Cruciferous Mini Chemistry Lesson

I was at the doctor yesterday and got a question by text about whether green smoothies were unhealthy and I was completely perplexed why anyone would think that.  Sure you can make an unhealthy green smoothie by loading it up with fruit and eliminating the kale and adding a little spinach instead. However the person who asked this question is a fan of healthy green smoothies with kale so I knew something was up.  We texted back and forth for a while and I called her and we talked about it and got everything cleared up. Once I got home the email questions started flooding in and that was when I knew I had really needed to write this post for everyone who was confused but didn’t have anyone to ask about this. So much for my day off, darn it!  *ugh*

I make my green smoothies with kale for a number of reasons but the primary one is that kale is the most nutritious raw and I think works well in smoothies from a flavor perspective.  However kale (like all cruciferous veggies) is generally more nutritious when eaten raw which I will explain so that you understand the process and aren’t confused the next time someone writes something to the contrary. When I first heard about this controversy the first thing I thought of was the comment I wrote yesterday about being careful what you read in popular books, clearly the same thing goes for what you read on blogs.

All vegetables contain protective micronutrients and cruciferous veggies are no exception.  If you were to look at the cells of kale under a microscope you would see each one contained a number of separate items included myrosinase (enzyme) and glucosinolates (organic compound) inside a vacuole (membrane). Think of myrosinase and glucosinolates like chickpeas and tahini before they are combined into hummus. When kale leaves are intact (whole) the myrosinase is physically separated from the glucosinolates. (1)  However in order for the cruciferous veggies to form indoles and isothiocyanates the myrosinase and glucosinolates need to be combined. (1) They can be combined by blending, chopping or chewing. (2)  Obviously blending does a more complete job of breaking down the cell walls releasing the maximum amount of myrosinase so it can combine with the glucosinolates.  However it is also important to know that myrosinase is inactivated by heat (cooking) (3).  If you cook whole or roughly chopped kale you are getting significantly less of the indoles and isothiocyanates (ITCs) because of the reduction in myrosinase.  The human digestive tract does have some myrosinase activity but the absorption of the ITCs is substantially lower for cooked cruciferous veggies according to numerous studies. (4)  Glucosinolates are water-soluble so boiling is not a good way to prepare cruciferous veggies. (5)  Boiling (2), steaming (3) and microwaving (6) are thought to completely inactivate myrosinase making the cruciferous vegetables far less nutritious.

Why should we care about our absorption of ITCs?  ITCs are critical for optimal human health since they not only kill cancer cells (7) but they remove carcinogens in both the phase I and II processes. (4) Additionally ITCs are anti-inflammatory (8), induce cancer cell-cycle arrest (7) and have been shown to eradicate H. pylori (9) (a major cause of stomach cancer). A better question might be why wouldn’t you want to absorb as many ITCs as you possibly could?

Why do we need indoles?  In the acidic environment of the human stomach indole-3-carbinols (I3Cs) combine to form acid condensation products (10) which include:  dimer 3,3’-diindolmethane (DIM) and cyclic trimer (CT).  The biological activity of DIM and CT differ from I3C but I3C is typically credited for the effects.  Both these (DIM and CT) form to a lesser degree when myrosinase has been inactivated by cooking. (11)  I3Cs have been found to inhibit estrogen activity and thereby are thought to decrease estrogen-sensitive cancers (think breast and prostate). (12)  Additionally I3Cs also have anti-angiogenic (13) properties (stop the growth of blood vessels to cancerous tumors) and they induce cell death (14) (apoptosis).  I3Cs have been shown to eradicate precancerous cervical lesions in some women. (15)  I don’t know about you, but I say bring on the I3Cs and as many as possible which means more raw cruciferous vegetables please.

First, I apologize for all the endnotes but when something is put out without any backup I worry that no one will have any confidence in the information that is being provided. I will not be boring you with endnotes often going forward but I thought it was necessary in this post.

Here is the bottom line for me.  Consuming cruciferous vegetables is important for our health.  Based on the science I have read blending raw kale is not only healthy but is the healthiest way to consume your kale.  As with everything else I will continue to stay current on the latest science on this topic and if anything changes I will let you know. Until I see scientific research that tells me that raw pureed kale is unhealthy I will continue to enjoy green smoothies (made with copious amounts raw kale I might add) most days of the week.  Dan and I both had green smoothies for breakfast this morning if you are curious.  ;-)

Endnotes:

1.       Holst B, Williamson G.  A critical review of the bioavailability of glucosinolates and related compounds, Nat Prod Rep 2004; 21(3):425-447

2.       Shapiro TA, Fahey JW, Wade KL, Stephenson KK, Talay P. Chemoprotective glucosinolates and isothiocyanates of broccoli sprouts:  metabolism and excretion in humans.  Cancer Epidemol Biomarkers Prev 2001;10(5):501-508

3.       Conaway CC, Getahun SM, Liebes LL, et al.  Disposition of glucosinolates and sulphoraphane  humans after ingestion of steamed and fresh broccoli.  Nutr Cancer 2000;38(2):168-178

4.        Lampe JW, Peterson S.  Brassica, biotransformation and cancer risk: genetic polymorphisms alter the preventive effects of cruciferous vegetables. J Nutr 2002; 132(10):2991-2994

5.       McNaughton SA, Marks GC. Development of a food composition database for the estimation of dietary intakes of glucosinolates, the biologically active constituents of cruciferous vegetables. Br J Nutr 2003;90(3):687-697

6.       Rouzan G, Young SA, Duncan AJ. Hydrolysis of glucosinolates to isothiocyanates after ingestion of raw or microwaved cabbage by human volunteers. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers prev 2004;13(1):125-131

7.       Zhang Y.  Cancer-preventive isothiocyanates:  measurement of human exposure and mechanism of action.  Mutat Res 2004;555(1-2):173-190

8.       Heiss E, Herhaus C, Klimo K, Bartsch H, Gerhauser C.  Nuclear factor kappa B is a molecular target for sulforaphane-mediated anti-inflammatory mechanisms. J Biol Chem 2001;276(34):32008-32015

9.       Galan MV, Kishan AA, Silverman AL.  Oral broccoli sprouts for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection: a preliminary report. Dig Dis Sci 2004;49(7-8):1088-1090

10.   Hertzer HG, Senft AP. The micronutrient indole-3-carbinol:  implications for disease and chemoprevention.  Drug Metabol Drug Interract 2000;17(1-4):159-188

11.   Shapiro TA, Fahey JW, Wade KL, Stephenson KK, Talalay P.  Human metabolism and excretion of cancer chemopreventive glucosinolates and isothiocyanates of cruciferous vegetables.  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1998;7(12):1091-1100

12.   Jordan VC, Gapstur S, Morrow M. Selective estrogen receptor modulation and reduction in risk of breast cancer, osteoporosis, and coronary heart disease. J Natl Cancer Inst 2001;93(19):1449-1457

13.   Chang X, Tou JC, Hong C, et al.  3,3’-diindolylmethane inhibits angiogenesis and the growth of transplantable human breast carcinoma in athymic mice.  Carcinogenesis 2005;26(4):771-778

14.   Chinni SR, Li Y, Upadhyay S, Koppolu PK, Sarkar FH.  Indole-3-carbinole (I3C) induced cell growth inhibition, G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in prostate cancer cells. Oncogene 2001;20(23):2927-2936

15.   Stanley M, Chapter 17: Genital human papillomavirus infections-current and prospective therapies.  J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr 2003;31:117-124

How to Make a Healthy Green Smoothie:

Making a healthy green smoothie is easy and you all know what I am going to say based on what you see me prepare. First include a lot of raw kale in your smoothies.  Frozen banana added to the mix makes the smoothie creamy.   Including walnuts and flaxseeds for healthy fats assists your body to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins in the kale.  Cinnamon is also added to our green smoothies for additional antioxidants as well as flavor.  Vanilla is included because it smoothes out the sharpness of the greens allowing me to add much more of them to our smoothies.  You can also add frozen cherries and cocoa powder for flavor and antioxidants. That is how you make a delicious and healthy green smoothie.

Calories Burned Chewing:

This is just a side issue but I am mystified that anyone would believe chewing kale could result in 100 calories being burned.  *scratches head* It takes 1 mile, either running or walking to burn 100 calories and that is using the largest muscles in the human body.  Let’s think about that for a minute. If you walk a mile in 15 minutes you are using your legs and buttocks to generate movement and that burns 100 calories. The muscle mass of those muscles is what at least 100 times greater than your jaw muscles, and probably more? So that would imply that you would need to chew for at minimum of 1500 minutes (15 times 100) to burn 100 calories.  Since there are only 1440 minutes in a day I find it impossible to see how this math works.

Signing off:

I appreciate that so many of you wrote to ask me what I thought about green smoothies.  Your faith in my ability to cut through the controversy and give you the truth has really touched me.   I would prefer to give up my day off if it means that I can clarify things for you.  I wanted to include plenty of endnotes so that you could follow the science for yourself if you choose, or at least realize that this wasn’t just “my opinion on the matter” but rather there is hard science which backs up everything that I wrote.  Now I am going to try to enjoy the rest of my “day off”. 

If you ever see anything that confuses you in the future just ask me. If I don’t know the answer I will do my research and find out for all of us.

Cruciferous Veggies, Dental Surgery and Black Bean Soup

It was absolutely balmy Friday morning when we got up it was 26 degrees. *rolls eyes* Can you believe this weather? It is more than 20 degrees colder than normal here and I am not enjoying it even a little.

The gym didn’t open again until 11am. Needless to say we didn’t start our morning at the gym.

Since we had oatmeal yesterday we were back to green smoothies again today. I feels so good when I make smoothies with kale for breakfast. If it were a little warmer we would still be having them every morning. There is something about starting the morning with raw kale that works for us.

For those of you that are wondering why put kale in your smoothie I thought I should explain it. Warning I am about to get technical. Kale (unlike spinach) is part of the cruciferous vegetable family. Consuming cruciferous vegetables has been associated with a reduction in cancer. Results of cohort studies suggest that we should all be consuming five servings of cruciferous veggies each week.

Cruciferous vegetables contain glucosinolates which are water-soluble. Additionally glucosinolates are precursors to isothiocyanates. How much isothiocyanates are formed depends on how the vegetable is processed. Cooking methods that use less water (steaming or microwaving) are thought to reduce the glucosinate lose. Additionally high heat cooking seems to inactivate myrosinase (the enzyme that catalyzes glucosinolates). Isothiocyanates (example sulforaphane) are thought to reduce the incidence of cancer two ways. The first is by helping the body to eliminate potential carcinogens. The second method of action is by enhancing the transcription of tumor suppressor proteins.

What does all that mean? Basically what it means to me is eat plenty of cruciferous veggies which are lightly cooked or raw. I hope that helped to explain why you are seeing kale in our smoothies.

What if you don’t like raw kale, then what can you do? My first thought is add broccoli sprouts to your sandwiches and salads. Broccoli sprouts are reported to be an excellent source of sulforaphane containing much more than raw full grown broccoli. If you can’t find broccoli sprouts I would suggest broccoli salad (using lightly cooked broccoli). Dan loves raw broccoli and cauliflower with dip or hummus. Collards are also a member of the cruciferous veg family which is why I first started using them as a flat bread replacement. I hope this gives you some ideas for how to work raw or lightly cooked cruciferous veggies into your diet.

Poor Dan I felt so sorry for him Friday. He went to the dentist in the morning to have them look at why his bite was changing (at 56). He left the dentist minus two wisdom teeth. I had two of mine removed 30 years ago and it wasn’t pleasant. However like usual Dan is being quite the trooper and isn’t taking pain meds though he filled the scripts. I knew he wasn’t feeling quite himself when he left work early.

Before Dan came home I made myself a quick lunch of a microwaved sweet potato topped with marinated artichokes, salsa, cilantro and raw pumpkin seeds. I always try to use sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes because they have more nutrition. We tend to think of white potatoes as treats here. As I always say the pumpkin seeds were added for good fat and to make it easier to absorb the fat soluble vitamins.

Not long after Dan called to tell me what happened at the dentist I decided to start a pot of black bean soup. I was expecting him to need pureed food and this works well as a smooth soup so I made a batch. I thought I would flavor it like chili and that worked well. I used the same standard seasonings except I omitted the chipotles because I wasn’t sure about spiciness and oral surgery. Here is what I did:

Black Bean Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 pound of black beans, dried and picked through
3 bay leaves
8 cups water
12 cloves garlic
1 large red onion
28 ounces diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 chipotles in adobo, diced (I omitted these tonight because of Dan’s oral surgery but otherwise they would have been included)
cilantro for garnish

Directions:

Cook the beans in water with the bay leaves until the beans are tender. Add the remaining ingredients (except the cilantro) and simmer for at least 30 minutes or longer to allow the flavors to marry.

If you have not had recent dental surgery puree a portion of the soup (somewhere between ¼ and 1/3) and add that back to the soup to thicken it.  Or you can do what I did for Dan and puree the entire batch.

To serve top the soup with fresh cilantro. You could also top it with a fresh salsa, avocado or cashew crème fraiche.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 311.25
Calories From Fat (5%) - 14.24

Total Fat - 1.7g
Saturated Fat - 0.38g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 41.49mg
Potassium - 1585.21mg
Total Carbohydrates - 59.45g
Fiber - 22.4g
Sugar - 5.54g
Protein - 18.54g

Comments:

This soup has a nice flavor and is simple to prepare. It is a good soup on a cold night. Dan had two big mugs of this which I pureed completely.

After dinner since Dan skipped lunch he had two bowls of strawberry banana soft serve. I am not kidding when I say he could and frequently does eat this every day.

Much to my surprise Dan isn’t experiencing and pain or swelling after the dental surgery. I haven’t been able to convince him to take a Tylenol or any pain reliever. To everyone that offered suggestions on Twitter thank you so much for everything. I suspect I will need your suggestions tomorrow. Sarah thank you for all your ideas I appreciate all your advice.  :-)

Happy Thoughts:

Friday was an odd sort of day. Like many days at our place I expect one thing and end up with something completely different. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• Removing the wisdom teeth on one side dramatically improved Dan’s bite. Who knew they changed when you are in your 50’s? It is also wonderful that the surgical site doesn’t seem to be bothering him. I am very thankful for that.

• The felines were doing their best to help daddy feel better. As you can see Dan loves Nicco (aka Binky). Those two are great friends.

• As you can see Binky is also doing his part to keep mommy warm. Our cats love to cuddle and be close to their human parents. I find this so endearing. We both adore our fur kids.

• I was very thankful for my Vitamix today since we I needed it to make food Dan could eat.

Signing Out:

Today is going to be a busy one at our house. I need to get a lot of thing accomplished since Christmas is quickly approaching and I am not ready yet. *sigh*

Dan doesn’t think he needs his food pureed today (Saturday) but I don’t agree. I need to come up with an idea for the mid-afternoon meal with my parents. Soup is probably going to happen since that is easy to make in both a smooth and chunky form without much trouble.

I hope everyone is having a happy and healthy weekend. I will talk to you again tomorrow.

Creamed Cabbage and Spinach in a Dijon White Sauce

(pictured: creamed cabbage and spinach over baked potato)

After hearing that my seitan paillards looked like schnitzel yesterday I had German food on the brain today when I was deciding what to cook for dinner.

When I was growing up there was a great German restaurant in Chicago called “The Berghoff”. It had the best German food, but a closed a couple of years ago. Even though I haven’t lived in the mid-west in almost 3 decades, when “The Berghoff” closed it was like losing an old friend. I immediately bought the cookbook they released hoping for the some of my favorite recipes from the restaurant. A few of them were in the book, but mostly those recipes are now just memories.

One of the best dishes I had ever eaten was the creamed spinach they used to serve. I know it was probably a heart attack on a plate but it was utterly delicious. The creamed cabbage and spinach I served tonight was my attempt to make a healthy version of the creamed spinach from my childhood. Here is what I made.

Creamed Cabbage and Spinach in a Dijon White Sauce
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and finely sliced
½ cup water to sauté onion
8 cups finely shredded cabbage
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
5 cups almond milk, unsweetened
5 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup fresh dill, finely minced

Directions:

Water sauté the onion until soft. Add the cabbage and spinach and cook until wilted. Don't overcook the cabbage since it is more nutritious the less it is cooked. Remove the vegetables to a wire strainer to eliminate the excess water.

While the vegetables are draining heat the almond milk until it is simmering. Add the cornstarch that was thoroughly dissolved in water to the hot almond milk and whisk to combine. Return the milk to a simmer to check the consistency of the sauce. If you want it thicker add another tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in water. Whisk the mustard into the white sauce and add salt and pepper until you like the level. Return the cooked and drained vegetables to the sauce and heat through. Stir the fresh dill into the sauce a few minutes before serving.

This dish is good served plain in a ramekin, over baked potatoes (as we had it tonight) or over pasta or rice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 101.07
Calories From Fat (25%) - 25.53

Total Fat - 2.8g
Saturated Fat - 0.06g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 234.63mg
Potassium - 450.94mg
Total Carbohydrates - 17.15g
Fiber - 4.53g
Sugar - 4.7g
Protein - 3.01g

Comments:

When you have something in your memory reality can rarely meet your expectation. However, I really liked this dish. It isn’t as rich as the one I remember but it also isn’t going to raise your cholesterol and/or clog your arteries. For a healthy dish this is quite good. My initial thought was to serve this on potato latkes but I opted for baked potato instead to keep the overall fat level reasonable.

Tonight we also had this with seitan paillards (reheated from yesterday’s batch) and a quick beet and apple relish. I will post the relish next.

On an unrelated note when I was at Costco on Friday I bought the new holiday album by Sting. It doesn’t contain the normal Christmas tunes, but I am really enjoying it. If you are Sting fan you may want to check it out.

I am starting to gear up for Christmas at our house. After Thanksgiving dinner we start the Christmas decorating. I adore Christmas and like to decorate every floor of our house. The felines get into the action by taking the decorations down as quickly as we can put them up. There is lots of holiday spirit at our house with humans and felines alike.

Brussels Sprouts, Apples and Walnuts over Wild Rice

My husband adores brussels sprouts. My poor husband is married to a woman that used to hate the brussels sprouts as much as he loved them. I never made the man brussels sprouts and he had to resort to getting them when we were out until I learned the secret. About 5 years ago I realized that I hated brussels sprouts because I grew up eating the ones my mom made which were overcooked and had that unpleasant sulfur thing happening. Now I know the secret to good brussels sprouts is to cook them lightly so that they are still crunchy. Coincidentally cruciferous vegetables also retain more nutrition when they are lightly cooked. By cooking them properly you are getting more nutrition as well as a better tasting vegetable.

Tonight’s brussels sprouts were combined with sweet red onion, and apples. I added the walnuts for texture and omega 3 fatty acids. We haven’t had wild rice in a while so I decided that would make a nice bed for the vegetables. Here is what I did.

Brussels Sprouts, Apples and Walnuts over Wild Rice
Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 ounces wild rice
2 cups water
1 pinch of salt
½ red onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (allow to stand 10 minutes so the allicin will develop)
¼ - ½ cup water to sauté the aromatics
2 apples, cored and cut into bite sized chunks
1 teaspoon canola or olive oil
1 pound Brussels sprouts, sliced in half
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, removed from the stems
¼ cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Directions:

Combine the wild rice, water and salt in a pot with a lid. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook for 35 minutes. After than time check to see if there is water left in the pan. If there is water left cook a few more minutes until the water has all been absorbed. Then turn off the heat and allow the rice to stand in the covered pot for 10 minutes.

While the rice is resting begin cooking the vegetables. Combine the onion, garlic and water in a heavy bottomed pan (I used cast iron) and cook until the onions are tender. Add the apples and cook for a few minutes more, until they just begin to soften. Now remove the mixture from the pan to a plate.

Wipe the pan clean with a paper towel and add the oil so that it lightly coats the bottom of the pan. Add the brussels sprouts in as close to a single layer as possible. You want to down side of the brussels to caramelize. This will happen in 3 of 4 minutes. During that time don’t touch the brussels sprouts. When you shake the pan and sprouts move easily it is time to turn the brussels sprouts and cook a few minutes on the other side.

Next add back the apples and onions and top the brussels with the walnuts. Cook a minute to heat everything through and serve hot on top of the wild rice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 244.1
Calories From Fat (24%) - 58.64

Total Fat - 6.94g
Saturated Fat - 0.72g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 371.34mg
Potassium - 596.67mg
Total Carbohydrates - 41.72g
Fiber - 7.26g
Sugar - 10.06g
Protein - 8.65g

Comments:

I asked my husband how he liked the dish and he said, “It is brussels sprouts how can it be bad”. See what I mean about he loves brussels sprouts. When I probed for more information he said he thought it was a good flavor combination but one that he wouldn’t have thought of on his own. I inquired if he would have liked a little agave or Dijon with this and he said no. If you like clean dishes this was a tasty recipe. I thought it would have been better with a little bit more flavor, maybe lemon juice or Dijon mustard or both.

Nutritionally this dish is not the powerhouse of some of my other dishes based on the information in the cookbook program. However, the program doesn’t take into account the indole 3 and sulphorane that is present in cruciferous vegetables. According to the program one serving of this recipe contains over 935IU of vitamin A, 74mg of vitamin C, 73mg of calcium, 105mcg of folate, 168mcg of vitamin K, 222 mg of phosphorus and 3mcg of selenium.

Tonight's meal was very filling. We ate dinner about 2 hours ago and I am still full.

I hope everyone has a great evening.