The Holistic Kitchen

 The mighty onion is a kitchen workhorse!   

As a member of the allium family (along with garlic and leeks), onions are a rich source of nutrients that benefit the cardio-vascular system.  Studies have shown their nutrient profile to lower blood cholesterol and triglycerides as well as protect the heart and blood vessels.  Additionally, the allium family has been credited with anti-cancer properties. 

As important as this is (especially considering their wide availability and low cost), I love the noble onion for the flavor profile it brings to the table!  Leave it raw and enjoy a powerful, spicy twist to your dish.  Sauté them in a small amount of olive oil or even broth, and taste the sweetness they bring.  Allow them to slowly caramelize over low heat with frequent movement (so they don't burn) and enhance the sweetness even further (think French Onion Soup).  YUMMMMM!

No matter what you are cooking, it is important that the pieces be very close in size.  Not only does this provide a uniform look , more importantly, it allows the food to cook at a uniform rate, so it's all done together, rather than small pieces burning while larger pieces get underway.  Make sense?  So here are some tips on getting a nice uniform dice to a whole (or half) onion: 

1. Trim off the sprout end (that's the opposite of the root end).  DON'T trim the root end off!  
2. Stand the onion on the newly trimmed end with root end up and slice the whole thing through from root down to cutting board.     
3. Working with one half at a time, peel away the outer layers that are either skin or tougher.
4. Lay one onion half flat on the cut side, root end away from you.
5. Make lengthwise cuts from root to tip – the width varies according to the size of the dice you want.  Do not cut through the root – leave it in tact so that you could pick the whole thing up as one piece by the root.
6. Turn the half 90 degrees and slice across the lengthwise cuts you just made (width of slices according to the size cuts you want).

VOILÀ!  A perfect dice!

Can't stop practicing? (the vision of Meryl Streep as Julia Child comes to mind) – portion them out by the cup or whole/half onion, then package them up in freezer safe containers, ready to grab when your next recipe calls for diced onion.

For those of you who’ve worked with me, heard me lecture or read my book, you know I don’t believe in relying on soy products, such a tofu, for plant-based protein. There are some compelling reasons for this, but I'll save them for a later discussion. Suffice it to say that raw, sprouted or processed soybeans can cause more problems than they solve and should not be relied upon as a protein mainstay – and now for the exceptions!

• Miso soup – heat some low sodium vegetable broth, add a heavy pinch of toasted nori crinkles and stir in a tablespoon miso until dissolved. Voilà! Soup.
• Use in place of Parmesan in your favorite Pesto recipe.
• Toss pasta noodles with olive and miso to distribute evenly, then dress with your favorite sauce.

The health benefits of garlic are well documented, from natural pest repellent, to natural anti-biotic.

Raw garlic is high in compounds that are anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and also fight free radical damage and inflammation with powerful antioxidant properties.

Though garlic is reputed to be beneficial in lowering LDL’s (“bad” cholesterol), studies have not proven this.  I don’t mind that – there are a lot of foods with a healthy track record of benefits that “studies” have not been able to prove.  When you consider that garlic is widely used in the Mediterranean and heart disease is much lower there than in the U.S., I’m willing to make the leap that it plays a healthy role!

The rich, sweet flavor of roasted garlic can be mashed into a paste and used in a multitude of ways, such as whisking with oil and vinegar for a dressing, adding to mashed potatoes or spreading on rustic bread instead of butter, just to name a few!

Method 1 (whole bulbs):

Place whole bulbs on a bed of coarse salt in a small baking dish.  Roast in a hot oven (temp is not actually critical – anywhere from 325F to 475F will do) until the skin has turned brown and juices are beginning to escape.

Allow the bulbs to cool.  Slice off the bottom and squeeze out the flesh.

Method 2 (individual cloves):

Leave the skin ON.  "Crack" individual cloves with the flat side of your chef's knife and a bit of pressure from the palm of your hand.  Toss the cracked cloves with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or in a baking dish, for approximately 20 minutes at 425F.  Cool slightly (just enough so you can handle them).  Discard skins and proceed with use of the flesh!

Mmmmm.  I can smell it from here!!

 The great thing about liquid nutrition is that you can blend in all sorts of crazy nourishing things and still feel like you’re drinking a fun treat! If you pack a lot of nutrition in, a little bit can be very sustaining for one whose appetite is compromised. AND it allows you to take advantage of raw foods that are easily digested and available for the body to put to work, right away.

Often times, cancer patients are told by their physicians to be careful how much fruit they consume, due to its sugar content and potential to spike the glucose, resulting in higher levels of insulin growth factor hormones.

According to Jennifer Murray, "Eating a low GL-diet does not mean giving up good-for-you foods such as fruits and vegetables".

Murray further reports:

"Even though many fruits have a moderate to high GL count due to their high sugar content, it’s unlikely that one would eat enough to spike blood sugar levels the way even small amounts of processed carbs will. There are many fruits that are very low in GL and have little impact on blood sugar."

"A low-GL value is considered 10 or less, and one 4-ounce serving of the following fruits all have a GL value of less than 10":

• Fresh apricots
• Avocado
• Blackberries
• Cantaloupe
• Fresh cherries
• Grapefruit
• Grapes
• Honeydew
• Kiwi
• Lemon
• Mandarins
• Nectarines
• Oranges
• Raspberries
• Fresh watermelon

Point of clarification:  Acute inflammation is a natural and necessary part of our immune system to repair tissue and aid healing.

Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, can be considered a nasty beast that confuses your immune response and is definitely harmful to your health!

Where does it come from?

• CHRONIC  CELLULAR STRESS – from toxins,  from a decreased sensitivity to insulin, known as insulin resistance,  yeast overgrowth (candida),  a stagnant colon and/or irregular elimination (yes, I’m talking bowel movements) are among the many sources of chronic cellular stress that lead to chronic inflammation.
• STRESS AS WE KNOW IT– chronic lack of sleep, high stress job, endless worry  and especially persistent anger or depression, all can trigger an overproduction of hormones that stimulate inflammatory response.

Combine this circulating surplus with a trigger of many possible sorts, such as an injury, a virus or cellular damage from oxidation (free radicals) and you have a condition of cellular chaos in which normal checks and balances that are supposed to control activity are turned on their ear. The result is invariably disease of some nature and quite often, cancer. In the case of disease such as cancer, the mechanism that is supposed to “shut off” a healthy inflammatory healing response, simply doesn’t and the result is a chronic ongoing surplus of inflammation.   Add to this , the fact that the chronic inflammation blocks cell death, allowing cancer cells to merrily flourish. So in very simple terms, cancer cells stimulate their own growth from chronic inflammation and are protected from death by it, as well.  To make matters even worse, neighboring immune cells, become confused by this and don’t respond to the fire whistle – they don’t even try to fight the tumor.

The good news:  this process does have a weakness and it can be exploited with readily available whole foods

I believe that the state of health in this great country boils down to one word and one word only:

CONVENIENCE.

We are a nation that has embraced convenience in our food supply at an ever increasing rate since WWII. In every way, this has had a negative impact on our health. From the way food is grown and packaged to the way we are treated when we’re sick, it’s all for the sake of speed – growing faster, spending less time in the kitchen and getting over the symptoms of illness as quickly as possible.

As a result, our convenient food is loaded with chemicals to preserve it, speed growth, inhibit natural selection, and make sure it looks healthy on the shelf. Then, as if that isn’t bad enough, much of it comes packaged in plastic that has been in the freezer and is tossed in the microwave. Frequently, the types of plastic used in convenience food packaging is not a high grade plastic and in great likelihood may be leaching Bisphenol A (BPA) into our foods both during freezing and heating. The effects of this compound in our food and bodies has been linked to hormonal cancers and insulin resistance, just for starters.

So what’s the answer?

Get back to basics. Slow down. Make time to prepare foods from scratch, using fresh, whole foods. Make it a family activity – quality time together creating foods to enjoy over the next week, stored in glass containers. Make the shopping trip an event too – teaching your kids what to look for in the store and on food labels is an irreplaceable life lesson. The time you spend will pay off in lower healthcare costs!

Don’t know your way around the kitchen? There are plenty of options available today to learn. Get your girlfriends together for a day, batch cook together under the instruction of the one who knows how to cook, divvy it all up and viola! A fun day and meals for the week!

OR you could hire a Personal Chef to do it all for you, for the same cost as dining out in a quality restaurant, without ever leaving home.

The bottom line is that we can help ourselves avoid disease by avoiding convenience! Yes, of course there are tradeoffs. But if you are already ill, your remaining quality of life and chances of survival will be much greater if you go back to an unprocessed, whole foods diet.

Stay tuned – The Holistic Kitchen website is designed to help you learn how.

With healthy regards,

Chef Nancy