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.

Exercising in Tight Quarters & Recent Breakfasts

Figuring out how to exercise in limited space has been on my mind for the last few weeks for obvious reasons. With so many things being electric powered on the boat I know that sailing isn’t going be of a workout. *sigh* However I don’t want that to keep us from enjoying the boat when the weather is nice. Clearly we need ideas for exercising in tight quarters because while the boat is roomy but isn’t like being at home. Here are the ideas that I have come up with so far:

• Buy a kayak to get some upper boat work when we are anchored (I have heard they make folding and inflatable models which would be great to have on board)
• Simple calisthenics which can be done on deck (crunches, push-ups, dips, etc.)
• Keep exercise bands on board which would be great since there are many things to wrap them around
• Travel with the TRX which I bet can be secured on the mast ;-) (Dan is cringing at the idea of this, just so you know)
• Go for a swim … but this is on the bottom of my list since I am not fond of swimming in the bay
• My friend Joy recommended exercise videos but I am not sure that I would have enough room to move around to use them on board

You were so great with breakfast ideas I was wondering if you had any exercise ideas. If you do please share I could really use the suggestions.

Recent Breakfasts:

Speaking of breakfast I am working on a few ideas for what to serve on the boat. Dan is more of a traditional breakfast person than I am. As you may have guessed Dan thinks I will eat just about any crazy combination of food and call it breakfast. I imagine some of you would/do agree with Dan.  ;-)

Yesterday I made this concoction which was: diced cucumber, a cooked tomato sauce with zucchini and artichokes. The sauce included Italian seasonings plus turmeric and black pepper for the health benefits. I finished this dish with chia seeds. Needless to say this was only for me, Dan had a green smoothie.

Today for breakfast we had: steel cut oats cooked with cinnamon, powdered ginger, nutmeg and cardamom. When I was grating the nutmeg I immediately thought of the boat because of where she is located. I added a dollop of reduced-fat peanut butter, some fresh red raspberries and finished with sliced almonds for crunch. This was definitely something that I made to Dan’s specifications.

Happy Thoughts:

• Everything is moving along nicely in Grenada which makes us both extremely happy. :-)

• The holiday weekend has started very low key which is nice since we have been swamped lately with unexpected tasks. We went for a nice walk this morning and even stopped to say good morning to Deirdre while we were out.

• Saturday we are heading downtown for a least one marina tour and might stop at West Marine while we are out. We both need to buy boat shoes since other than athletic shoes neither of us have anything with white soles.

• It is wonderful that the weather is forecasted to be nice most of the weekend. Who knows we might even grill some veggies and tofu if we have time.

Signing out:

I need to get ready to head downtown. I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday weekend and have some great things planned. Talk to you again soon.

Monday and Increasing Your Calorie Burn

What a shock we started our morning at that the gym again, LOL. I bet many of you are getting tired of hearing about it. I was happy to have burned 600 calories in an hour. What would I do without the trip counter on my Body Bugg? *shakes head* It would drive me crazy if I didn’t know what I was burning at the gym.

When we were leaving I took this picture of the sunrise. I really liked this shot so I wanted to share it with you.

Since it was a cold morning we had a hot bowl of oatmeal for breakfast with our usual add-ins: frozen wild blueberries, cinnamon, powdered ginger, ground flaxseeds and almonds.

Lunch was a bowl of curried tomato soup that was leftover from the soup cooking session on Sunday. I love how the flavor of soup improves as it sits in the refrigerator.

After lunch Dan and I had some things to do out of the house. Since we were out we stopped at the library (to drop off some books) and the health food store because I always need something. We also hit Marshall’s and Costco while we were out. I picked up two more pair of arctic exercise pants at Costco which I was very happy to have this morning.

Here is a cute story. When we were checking out at Costco the woman commented that we had a lot of bananas. Apparently not everyone buys 12 pounds of bananas at once, LOL. When she asked what we do with them I said we make a lot of smoothies but conveniently left out the kale component. ;-) I was giggling on the inside knowing that we don’t appear to be as “granola” (as our chef friend Ian puts it) as we actually are.

When we got home dinner was more soup from yesterday. Since we had the curried tomato for lunch we had the vegetable chowder for dinner.

We also had a quick little salad of mesclun, mango, and chopped walnuts. The dressing was more of the white miso and apple cider vinegar I first tried over the weekend.

It was much later than we had expected by the time we got home, had things put away and finished dinner.

For dessert Dan wanted me to make something which approximated chocolate ice cream. My first attempt turned out pretty well, but it isn’t perfect yet. I will share the specifics with you when it is ready. For those that want to play around with it now here is what I did: in my Vitamix I combined 3 frozen bananas, approximately ½ cup reduced-fat peanut butter, 1 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger and 2 scoops stevia. I also added a splash of water (maybe ¼ cup) to help it blend. The flavor was very good but the texture was too thin. Next time I am going to try adding less water or I may make it earlier in the day and run it through the ice cream machine.

Burning more calories while you exercise:

I have been getting a lot of questions by email about how I am able to burn so many calories in an hour. Using a treadmill on a steep incline seems to have a made a big difference for me. Some time back I read that for every 4 or 5% increase in incline you double your calorie burn. With the body bugg I was able to test this and I can tell you using an incline makes a big difference in calorie burn.

I wrecked my knees thirty years ago running cross country in high school and they haven’t been right ever since. However using the treadmill on an incline doesn’t seem to bother my knees and it results in a good calorie burn so I am going to focus on that until I get bored.

I also use the elliptical, rowing machine, spin bike and stair climber but the treadmill is my preferred machine because I get the best burn. Who knows one of those Nordic Track machines that will go to a 30% incline may be in my future. ;-)

Something else that you need to keep in mind is that your muscle mass makes a difference in how many calories you burn. I don’t mention strength training often but that is another important component of a well-rounded exercise routine. I like to do my strength training at home and find that a heavy set of adjustment dumbbells (mine go from 2.5 to 52.5 lbs each) and heavy exercise bands are more than enough to get a good workout.

Credit Card Theft:

For the second time in a few years someone has gotten a hold of one of our credit card numbers and used it to buy things fraudulently on-line. The first theft was on one of Dan’s Visa cards. This time it was my Amex card. This entire process still perplexes me. Why would merchants sell something to someone whose name isn’t on the card whose address doesn’t match the billing address? Also, how do people get card numbers? Clearly I would make a bad on-line thief.

Amex was great about the problem when we called to ask about the charge. It is being contested with the merchant who wasn’t much help by phone. Amex is sending a replacement card overnight. They really do have great customer service.

Forks Over Knives Screening Tomorrow:

I am really looking forward to the advance screening of the movie tomorrow evening. One of the most encouraging things was that the film sold out in days and there is a waiting list of 150 for the screening. It is incredibly encouraging to me that so many people are interested in this film.

Happy Thoughts:

We had a very good Monday even though it was busy. Here are my happy thoughts now:

• I am happy that the dentist was able to work Dan and me in tomorrow on short notice. We have been so busy we have both been remiss in getting to the dentist. Since I will be downtown tomorrow (that is where our dentist is) it sounds like a great excuse to have lunch together to me. ;-)

• Given our frosty weather it was wonderful to stay inside today after coming home from the gym. I am thankful to have a nice warm house in this weather. Please remember that not everyone is that fortunate and donate to homeless shelters this time of year.

• I was grateful that my knee didn’t give up at the gym this morning though it was acting up the evening before. It would have been embarrassing to hit the floor at the gym. ;-)

• I am also seriously looking forward to the advance showing of the movie tomorrow. It should be great.  I found out this evening Sheila and Troy are going too.  It will be great to have other people to chat to about the film after the screening.

Signing out:

Time for me to call it a night. Talk to you all again tomorrow. I hope everyone had a great Tuesday.

Vegan Mofo 2.1: Exercise May Reduce Upper Respiratory Infections

This is an interesting article so I wanted to share it. It indicates that people who exercise 5 days a week have 43% fewer days with an upper respiratory infection. Of course this was only for that specific group of 1,002 people and over 12 weeks but it is still impressive.

Here are a few salient points from the article in case you don’t want to follow the link:

The findings are consistent with previous epidemiologic and randomized studies, they wrote. Although the underlying mechanism remains unclear, the relationship might be explained by the effect of exercise on the body's immune response.

"Each aerobic exercise bout causes a transient increase in the recirculation of immunoglobulins and neutrophils and natural killer cells, two cells involved in innate immune defenses. Animal data indicate that lung macrophages play an important role in mediating the beneficial effects of moderate exercise on lowered susceptibility to infection," Nieman and his colleagues wrote.

"Stress hormones, which can suppress immunity, and pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, indicative of intense metabolic activity, are not elevated during moderate aerobic exercise," they continued.

"Although the immune system returns to pre-exercise levels within a few hours after the exercise session is over, each session may improve immunosurveillance against pathogens that reduce overall upper respiratory tract infection incidence and symptomatology."

I underlined moderate exercise to make certain you didn’t miss that point. According to what I have read why moderate exercise increases the immune system strenuous exercise depresses it. I try to remember that moderate or strenuous is different for everyone depending on their level of conditioning.

I know personally that when I am exercising regularly I also get fewer colds. If exercise alone can have this much impact imagine what a combination of exercise and good nutrition (a healthy vegan diet obviously) can do. It may explain why I haven’t had a cold in the last couple of years.

Happy Tuesday:

It is a cold one this morning, 39 degrees Fahrenheit when I first looked. Clearly I need to wait for my hair to dry completely before walking to the polls this morning.  I haven't missed voting since I turned 18.

Last night I scheduled the first two fur babies for their dental procedures. One of the boys goes this Thursday and the other one next Thursday. Knowing there will be a week of antibiotics after the surgery we decided taking them a week apart was the best plan. For those of you that have cats you know the joys of trying to give them medication. I am really looking forward to that, NOT. ;-)

I will be back later with another post with a recipe. I hope everyone is staying warm.

Brief Update

Sorry for going AWOL on you. I have been crazy busy for the last two days and spent a lot of today sitting in the doctor’s office or his waiting room. Everything went well, other than the flu shot that has my upper arm aching. My blood pressure was a very respectable 108/78 which is not bad given my advanced age ;-) and the stress of crazy highway driving to get to the doctor.

After the doctor I spent a little time taking part in some retail therapy so I feel much better now, LOL. I picked up some great bargains and you know that means clothes and a new exercise toy.

Hint, hint. LOL ;-)

I will fill you in on the food you missed and the fun deals I found shopping as soon as I can, either late tonight or tomorrow morning. We are having dinner with friends tonight which means I need to go so I can make myself presentable. Talk to you soon. :-)

Need Any Exercise Equipment?

This notice showed up in my email box and I wanted to share it with all of you. Between 10pm and 9am (Eastern Time) tonight/tomorrow morning you save 15% off your order at Dick’s Sporting Goods.  I have purchased a few things from Dick’s on-line in the past which is why the noticed arrived.

I may have to order something tonight. Who doesn’t love getting a discount? I know I do. Happy shopping. ;-)

Rice and Veggies with a Spicy Cilantro Sauce

We tend to stay minimize grains, whole or otherwise,  instead preferring to focus on veggies, fruits, beans, seeds and nuts. However, today we had a brutal thunderstorm roll through which dropped the temperatures from 90 something to 71 in a matter of minutes. When it is cool like this I tend to want comfort food. For me meals with grains scream home and comfort.

I started with the idea of making a vegan bibimbap and ended up making a spicy cilantro sauce instead. I really do have difficulty staying focused on a meal. This is why I am never successful when I write menu plans. I seem incapable of sticking with them. For some reason I need the flexibility to change my mind when it comes to food. Who knows what deep seated psychosis is causing this, LOL. Here is what I made tonight for dinner:

Rice and Veggies with a Spicy Cilantro Sauce
Serves 2

Sauce ingredients:

¼ cup cilantro (stems and leaves)
1 tablespoon lime juice (or lemon if you don’t have lime)
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon white miso
1 teaspoon sriracha, or more if you like things hot ;-)
¼ cup raw sesame seeds (or tahini if not using a high powered blender)
¼ cup water (or what is necessary to make a smooth sauce)

Other ingredients:

2 cups cooked brown rice, warm preferably
½ pound baby spinach, chopped
1 cup marinated mushrooms (1 cup of any type mushroom that you tossed with a 1 tablespoon of liquid aminos and a pinch of stevia and refrigerated for at least 1 day, drain excess liquid before using)
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced,
2 cups snow peas
1 tomato, diced

Directions:

Combine the sauce ingredients in your blender and process until smooth. You may need to add a little water to get everything to process.

To serve plate the greens first, top with rice and veggies and drizzle with the sauce. Alternately you can toss the rice with the sauce and then top with veggies. Either way you will need to give this dish a stir on your plate to distribute the sauce and veggies like you are eating bibimbap. This is good with hot, warm or cold rice. I prefer the rice warm in this dish.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 472.85
Calories From Fat (22%) - 103.3

Total Fat - 12.32g
Saturated Fat - 1.85g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 988.08mg
Potassium - 1683.66mg
Total Carbohydrates - 77.79g
Fiber - 15.18g
Sugar - 12.95g
Protein - 17.72g

Comment:

Both Dan and I really liked the spicy cilantro sauce. That will definitely be making repeat appearances at our house. This is a winning combination the warm rice and cold veggies with a lightly spicy sauce. I have always believed that sauces make the meal. This particular meal would have been very boring were it not for the sauce.

Each serving of this recipe contains approximately 21,650IU of vitamin A, 200mg of vitamin C, 390mg of calcium, 9.9mg of iron, 4.6mg of vitamin E, 1.2mg of vitamin B6, 350mg of folate, 590mcg of vitamin K, 470mg of phosphorus, and 290mg of magnesium.

Unrelated notes:

So far I still love the new dumbbells. I have not found anything not to like about them yet. It is great to have so much flexibility in terms of weight. I can tell I am getting a better work out because the DOMS has reached a new level. Yay? Unlike my friend Heather I have never learned to love the pain. Something tells me I never will, LOL. But hey, it works so what the heck.

Tomorrow I am planning to make something for Dan in the kitchen. I have not decided what that means yet. I may make seitan sausages since he loves those and I don’t make seitan very often or it could be a dessert. Who knows maybe I will do both. ;-)

I hope everyone had a great Monday. Talk to you tomorrow.

Zucchini Spaghetti with Asian Walnut Sauce

I was feeling a bit lazy today in terms of cooking. When this happens I frequently turn to raw food. As long as there isn’t soaking or dehydrating involved raw food can be a good fast meal.

Today I was thinking about sesame noodles but I wanted something that was healthier of course. Spiralized zucchini was the obvious substitute for pasta. I substituted walnuts in place of peanut butter for the omega 3 fatty acids. In place of fresh ginger I used powdered for a couple of reasons. First we get a lot of fresh ginger in our diet in the form of fresh juice. Second I recently learned that the powdered ginger was better at reducing inflammation. I have been adding to our oatmeal and banana soft serve since learning this. Medjool date was included to round out the flavor with a touch of sweetness. Tamarind paste was included for the sharpness it adds. Here is what I made late this afternoon:

Zucchini Spaghetti with Asian Walnut Sauce
Serves 4

Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts
1/3 cup water
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
½ teaspoon powdered ginger
2 tablespoons liquid aminos
1 Medjool date, to lightly sweeten
1 tablespoon tamarind paste (or substitute lime juice)

Vegetable Ingredients:

4 large zucchini, spiralized
2 carrots, julienned
1 bell pepper, thinly slice
5 inches cucumber cut into thin half moons
¼ cup cilantro (a tablespoon saved for garnish)

Optional Garnish Ingredients:

black sesame seeds – for the color contrast
thinly sliced radish – would add nice color, crunchy texture and spicy flavor

Directions:

Combine the sauce ingredients in your blender and process until smooth. If you aren’t using a high speed blender soak the walnuts in water for an hour so they soften. Then drain the water from the nuts. Also reduce the water you add by at least 2 tablespoons so your sauce doesn’t get thin. You want a thick sauce, similar to the texture of sour cream. Refrigerate the finished sauce until you are ready to serve. Don’t combine the sauce with the veggies until you are ready to plate. The sodium in the sauce will draw water out of the veggies. That is why you need to start with an extra thick sauce so it doesn’t make a runny dish in the end.

When ready to serve toss the zucchini with the dressing. Add the other veggies and toss to combine. Top the zucchini with a little cilantro and serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 281.89
Calories From Fat (59%) - 165.04

Total Fat - 19.73g
Saturated Fat - 1.92g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 533.16mg
Potassium - 993.71mg
Total Carbohydrates - 24.67g
Fiber - 6.87g
Sugar - 13.49g
Protein - 8.21g

Comments:

I really like this sauce. It has a subtle but complex flavor but still reminds me of the peanut sauce I was trying to replicate. This sauce would make a nice veggie dip and I may make some for that purpose later this week. ;-)

If you still use salt you may want to increase the liquid aminos and reduce the water by the same amount. Other than that I can’t think of any changes I would suggest.

Each serving of this “salad” has approximately 8,300IU of vitamin A, 85mg of vitamin C, 90mg of calcium, 2mg of iron, 1.3mg of vitamin E, 0.8mg of B6, 115mcg of folate, 220mg of phosphorus, and 100mg of magnesium.

We had this as the starter course today for the mid day meal with my folks. Surprisingly both the elderly omnis gobbled this up. Clearly this was a winner with the vegan and omnivores alike. This “salad” was followed by a bowl of the vegetable and red lentil soup from yesterday.

Unrelated note:

Today has been a slow day, but a good day. Dan has been working away in his office. Poor baby. I have been reading and trying to get organized for the week. When you shop at the farmers’ market and buy what looks good sometimes it is a challenge to figure out what to make to eat later in the week.

We did end up getting hungry about noon and had a bowl of oatmeal to hold us over until the 3pm meal with my parents. Of course we will be eating again around 8pm. As I said many times before Dan and I really do eat all day long, or at least it seems that way to me. We are thinking something Mexican inspired for dinner. But that could change between now and 8pm, I do tend to be fickle.

Do any of you own or have read, “The New Rules for Lifting for Women”? I think I need a new weight lifting book, since mine are all over 10 years old. I was curious if any of you have thoughts on the book. From what I have read on line it looks like a good one.

Time for me to clean up my kitchen, so I can make it dirty again in a couple of hours. I will be back later tonight, or tomorrow, with dinner this evening. I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Talk to you again soon.

Dinner Update and New Weights

I will start with the food since this is a food blog. But honestly I want to start with the weights, LOL. Can you tell I am really a big kid? I love my new toys!

Dinner:

Last night for dinner we had a big salad (shocked right). This one was shredded romaine, curried sesame dressing, avocado, dehydrated leeks, sun-dried tomatoes (we were out of fresh), peas, and red lentil and millet balls. It was a tasty dinner.

If you had told me a few years ago that we would be eating salad twice a day I would have thought you were crazy. However slowly over time we have added more and more salad to our meals. Now I find that a meal without raw veggies doesn’t seem right to me. Also I used to think salad was greens with dressing and probably tomato and cucumber. Our salads now may include anything and everything. I always try to incorporate some type of fat either avocado, nuts or seeds and sometimes both like last night. If you change the ingredients to add to your salad they don’t get boring. Well that works for us anyway.

Of course Dan thought he “needed” banana and strawberry soft serve after the salad. He was convinced that he hadn’t had enough calories yesterday. Seriously I know he just wanted dessert but if he wants to play the calorie game I can go along with him. ;-)

New Adjustable Dumbbells (Bowflex Select Tech 552):

Now, let's talk about the weights, LOL. If it is possible to be in love with dumbbells I think I am. Bowflex did a great job with the design of these babies. You spin the dial on each end of the dumbbell to the same weight and it somehow changes what you pick up. The dials are very easy to spin and you can feel them click into place. I don’t pretend to know how it works but it does work. It takes a few seconds to change the dial and the weight is different. Wow! I love it when things work they way they are designed.

The weights we bought go from 5 pounds to 52.5 pounds. Bowflex does make an adjustable set which goes to 90 pounds if anyone is interested. I don’t think we will outgrow these for a while, LOL.

Unrelated Note:

Happy TGIF! Don’t you just love Fridays? This is my favorite day of the week. Yay Friday! Since it is Friday I have my usual errands to take care of. It is also Fun Facts Friday so I will be posting those questions again today.

Shoe with Balance Ball Technology

I saw this article and had to share it with everyone.

Apparently the study testing the effectiveness of the balance ball technology shoes was 5 women walking 500 steps in the shoes and measuring the muscle activity compared to walking in "regular" shoes and barefoot. Really! Only 5 women walking 500 steps. Are they kidding? This study seems more than a bit weak to me. I had been considering the shoes until I read this. Now it seems like they could be just another marketing scam.

Do you any of you have these shoes and if you do what do you think of them? Have you been able to measure any difference after wearing the shoes?