Category: Food

Edible

Do you know your edible wild plants?

Edible Wild Plants

Sulforaphane

Sulforaphane.  Pharmaceutical companies have studied it for years because of its very positive effects on cancer.  You get it when you chew raw broccoli because then two compounds in the broccoli come together and create this new compound.  Even better if you chew the raw broccoli with mustard.  Broccoli sprouts have 10x the amount of sulforaphane as the mature plant.  Grind up a small amount of the sprouts as the first ingredient in your smoothie, but not too much because the taste is terrible.

Best Vegan Protein Sources

Nuts

I’ve recently changed my strategy with nuts. All the health studies show that eating nuts with prudent quantity is very good for your health and may in fact stabilize your weight. Nuts are high in protein, good fats, and many minerals.

My take on nuts has been I wanted to eat a small quantify of walnuts each day, as walnuts are the one nut high with omega 3 fat, and indeed walnuts are a good choice if you eat but one type of nut.

But then I looked at the nutritional profile of walnuts compared to almonds, pecans, and Brazil nuts. What I discovered was that these other nuts can be very high in nutrients that are not so deep with walnuts. For instance, when compared to walnuts, almonds are exceedingly high in B2, B3, Vitamin E (exceptional), phosphorous, fiber, and comparatively low in fat. Pecans are high in B1, manganese (exceptional), and zinc (exceptional). And Brazil nuts are all-stars when it comes to selenium — a single Brazil nut gives you all the daily selenium you need.

So I decided to divide my daily nut quotient among not 1 nut, but these 4 nuts in order to have a more well-rounded nut nutrient profile than I had with the single walnut.

So now my daily quotient of nuts includes: 6 almonds, 5 walnut halves, 3 pecans halves, and 1 Brazil nut. That comes to 171 calories — same as before with only walnuts — but this diversification has much broader and therefore better nutrition.

Best Vegan Protein Sources

Old Age and Digestion

If you are into your 60s and 70s, it would be a good idea to take a digestive enzyme pill with your primary meal, as these enzymes decrease with old age, so that without a supplement, you are getting much less value from the food that you eat because it doesn’t get thoroughly digested for lack of digestive enzymes.

Yet another problem with old age and digestion is that the hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach to breakdown food decreases with old age, so that food — and proteins in particular, which are more complex compounds — don’t get broken down as efficiently by digestion in the stomach for lack of this acid, which is another reason why the old should increase the amount of protein in their diet somewhat to compensate for this inefficient digestion. A sprinkle of lemon juice on your salad would help here with digestion in the stomach.

old age and digestion

Cholesterol-Free Scrambled Eggs

The entire container of Trader Joe’s Liquid Range-Free Egg Whites (250 calories) — put it into a blender with a generous amount of nutritional yeast (that appealing eggy taste) and some black salt (that foul eggy smell). Large assortment of leafy greens (Kale, Spinach, etc.) diced to very small sizes. Steam a wide assortment of mixed vegetables. Chives.

Start with one large diced sweet onion in a heated pan until it starts to brown, then add diced garlic, and then some vegetable broth or avocado oil spray to prevent sticking. Once that onion/garlic combination has cooked sufficiently, add the egg whites and stir occasionally as it solidifies. As it comes close to being fully cooked, add the leafy greens and the chives, and mix them in well. Just before you finish cooking, add all the vegetables and mix well.

Eat it with Ezekiel Sesame toasted bread with a generous coating of clover honey.

Cinnamon Lovers