4 plum tomatoes, chopped
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
Blend dressing ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy. With a fork or potato masher, mash beans, leaving slightly chunky. Spread desired amount of dressing on each tortilla and then top with bean mixture, corn, chopped tomato, and lettuce. Fold up the bottom edge of the tortilla until it partially covers the filling, then fold in the left and right sides of the tortilla and roll up. Slice in half diagonally.
Refrigerate leftover dressing for another use.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 335; PROTEIN 15G; CARBOHYDRATES 50G; TOTAL FAT 9.9G; SATURATED FAT 1.4G; SODIUM 165MG; FIBER 13.6G; BETA-CAROTENE 1,600MCG; VITAMIN C 17MG; CALCIUM 83MG; IRON 4.6MG; FOLATE 145MCG; MAGNESIUM 57MG; ZINC 1.8MG; SELENIUM 1.8MCG
Veggie Pizza
SERVES 4
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 cup chopped cauliflower
½ red bell pepper, chopped
3 slices onion, chopped
½ pound mushrooms, chopped
1 teaspoon Bragg Liquid Aminos or reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon MatoZest or other no-salt seasoning, adjusted to taste
¼ teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste)
4 (100% whole grain) flour tortillas
1 cup low-sodium or no-salt-added tomato sauce
2 tablespoons shredded nondairy mozzarella cheese
Preheat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, mix all ingredients except for tortillas, tomato sauce, and nondairy cheese. Spread on a large cookie sheet with edges and bake for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
Remove toppings from oven and increase temperature to 400°F. Place tortillas on cookie sheet and spread sauce on tortillas, coating thinly all the way to the edges. Evenly distribute the veggies on top and sprinkle with nondairy cheese. Bake 7–10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.
Remove from oven, allow to cool, then slice and serve. May be refrigerated and reheated in the oven the next day.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 257; PROTEIN 12G; CARBOHYDRATES 39G; TOTAL FAT 6.6G; SATURATED FAT 1.0G; SODIUM 282MG; FIBER 8.4G; BETA-CAROTENE 519MCG; VITAMIN C 61MG; CALCIUM 133MG; IRON 3.3MG; FOLATE 63MCG; MAGNESIUM 29MG; ZINC 0.9MG; SELENIUM 13.0MCG
Desserts
Apple Surprise
SERVES 6
1 cup raisins
¼ cup water
8 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
½ cup chopped walnuts
4 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Place raisins in bottom of pot and cover with ¼ cup water. Place diced apples on top. Cover and steam over very low heat for 7 minutes, or until apples are tender. Transfer apple/raisin mixture to a bowl and mix well with remaining ingredients.
This recipe keeps well in the refrigerator for several days.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 267; PROTEIN 4G; CARBOHYDRATES 50G; TOTAL FAT 8.7G; SATURATED FAT 0.8G; SODIUM 5MG; FIBER 6.3G; BETA-CAROTENE 39MCG; VITAMIN C 9MG; CALCIUM 58MG; IRON 1.3MG; FOLATE 15MCG; MAGNESIUM 51MG; ZINC 0.7MG; SELENIUM 1.8MCG
Banana Oat Cookies
SERVES 7
½ cup raisins or chopped dates
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
⅓ cup chopped walnuts or raw almonds
¼ cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or powdered vanilla bean
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup 100% all-fruit preserves, any flavor, if desired
Add 2 tablespoons of water to raisins or dates and soak for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine the mashed bananas and oats. Add the nuts, coconut, vanilla, cinnamon, and soaked dates or raisins. Mix well. Drop by tablespoons onto a nonstick cookie sheet. If desired, flatten a little, make an indentation in the center of the cookie, and add a small dollop of fruit spread. Bake for 13 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 14 cookies.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 179; PROTEIN 4G; CARBOHYDRATES 29G; TOTAL FAT 6.7G; SATURATED FAT 2G; SODIUM 2MG; FIBER 4.2G; BETA-CAROTENE 10MCG; VITAMIN C 3MG; CALCIUM 12MG; IRON 4.7MG; FOLATE 14MCG; MAGNESIUM 25MG; ZINC 0.3MG; SELENIUM 1.4MCG
Creamy Beany Chocolate Mousse
SERVES 3
1 ½ cups cooked or 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added or low-sodium black beans, drained
1 small apple, peeled and cored
1 ripe banana
½ cup natural, nonalkalized cocoa powder
6 regular or 3 Medjool dates, pitted
¼ cup soy, hemp, or almond milk
2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup unsweetened, shredded coconut for garnish, if desired
Add all ingredients except coconut to a high-powered blender and blend thoroughly until smooth. Add more nondairy milk by the tablespoon if needed to blend, being careful not to add too much. Mixture should be thick. Place in bowls, cover, and chill well in refrigerator before serving. Garnish with coconut if desired.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 357; PROTEIN 13G; CARBOHYDRATES 66G; TOTAL FAT 9.9G; SATURATED FAT 5.9G; SODIUM 19MG; FIBER 18.3G; BETA-CAROTENE 40MCG; VITAMIN C 5MG; CALCIUM 84MG; IRON 4.8MG; FOLATE 153MCG; MAGNESIUM 188MG; ZINC 2.5MG; SELENIUM 7.1MCG
Fruit Slushie
SERVES 4
5 cups fresh fruit chunks (such as watermelon, cantaloupe, mango, or peaches)
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lime juice
6 regular or 3 Medjool dates, pitted
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 cup ice cubes
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Freeze 15–20 minutes or until just partially frozen. Stir and serve.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 90; PROTEIN 2G; CARBOHYDRATES 23G; TOTAL FAT 0.3G; {SATURATED FAT?} SODIUM 2MG; FIBER 1.8G; BETA-CAROTENE 580MCG; VITAMIN C 19MG; CALCIUM 20MG; IRON 0.6MG; FOLATE 9MCG; MAGNESIUM 24MG; ZINC 0.2MG; SELENIUM 1.1MCG
Fudgy Black Bean Brownies
SERVES 12
2 cups cooked or canned no-salt-added or low-sodium black beans, drained
1 ¼ cups regular dates or 10 Medjool dates, pitted
2 tablespoons raw almond butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup natural, nonalkalized cocoa powder
1 tablespoon ground chia seeds
Optional Chocolate Topping
1 ripe avocado
½ cup water
4 tablespoons natural, nonalkalized unsweetened cocoa powder
10 regular or 5 Medjool dates, pitted Splash vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 200°F. Combine the black beans, dates, almond butter, and vanilla in a food processor or high-powered blender. Blend until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and blend again. Spread into a very lightly oiled 8-by-8-inch baking pan. Bake for 1 ½ hours. Cool completely and apply topping if desired. Cut into small squares. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator up to 1 week.
To make topping, blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 123; PROTEIN 4G; CARBOHYDRATES 25G; TOTAL FAT 2.4G; SATURATED FAT 0.5G; SODIUM 2MG; FIBER 5.6G; BETA-CAROTENE 18MCG; CALCIUM 40MG; IRON 1.4MG; FOLATE 48MCG; MAGNESIUM 59MG; ZINC 0.8MG; SELENIUM 1.4MCG
Six-Minute Baked Apple
SERVES 2
2 apples, halved and cored
1 teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ cup raisins
2 regular dates or 1 Medjool date, pitted and chopped
½ lemon, zest only
2 tablespoons finely ground or chopped raw almonds
Put 1 tablespoon water in a small microwaveable baking dish with no lid. Place the four apple halves in the baking dish, cut sides up. Cover the exposed apple sides with the cinnamon. Press the raisins into the holes where the apple cores were removed. Microwave for 5 minutes. (You can also bake apples in a conventional oven at 350°F for 25 minutes or until soft.)
Meanwhile, mash together the dates, lemon zest, and ground almonds with a fork. When the apples are done cooking, place on a serving dish and reserve cooking liquid. Mash the cooking liquid into the date mixture and spread over the top of the apples.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 165; PROTEIN 2G; CARBOHYDRATES 39G; TOTAL FAT 2.3G; SATURATED FAT 0.2G; SODIUM 1MG; FIBER 4.6G; BETA-CAROTENE 40MCG; VITAMIN C 9MG; CALCIUM 46MG; IRON 1MG; FOLATE 5MCG; MAGNESIUM 28MG; ZINC 0.3MG; SELENIUM 0.2MCG
Strawbeany Ice Cream
SERVES 4
2 cups fresh or 1 (10-ounce) bag frozen strawberries
¾ cup cooked pinto beans (or canned, unsalted)
1 cup unsweetened soy or almond milk
8 regular dates or 4 Medjool dates, pitted
½ cup raw cashews
1 teaspoon nonalcohol vanilla extract
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Freeze until almost set, about 2 hours.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 242; PROTEIN 7G; CARBOHYDRATES 38G; TOTAL FAT 8.5G; SATURATED FAT 1.4G; SODIUM 50MG; FIBER 6.5G; BETA-CAROTENE 40MCG; VITAMIN C 30MG; CALCIUM 177MG; IRON 2.8MG; FOLATE 76MCG; MAGNESIUM 91MG; ZINC 1.5MG; SELENIUM 5.9MCG
Sweet Potato Pie with Coconut Pecan Crust
SERVES 8
For the Crust
1 cup pecans
½ cup rolled oats
½ cup unsweetened hemp or almond milk
8 regular or 4 Medjool dates, pitted
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flakes
⅛ teaspoon vanilla bean shreds or nonalcohol vanilla extract
For the Filling
1 teaspoon agar flakes
2 oranges, 1 juiced and 1 peeled and chopped
2 cups cooked sweet potatoes, mashed
12 ounces silken tofu, drained (see Note)
2 regular or 1 Medjool date, pitted
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (see Note)
½ cup pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well-combined. Press mixture into a 9-inch pie pan.
To make the filling, dissolve the agar flakes in the orange juice. Place in a high-powered blender or food processor along with the sweet potato, chopped orange, tofu, dates, and pumpkin pie spice and blend until smooth. Spoon sweet potato mixture onto piecrust. Garnish with chopped pecans and bake for 40 minutes. Let pie cool and then refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
Note: Silken tofu (also called Japanese-style tofu) has a softer consistency than regular tofu. Unlike regular tofu, silken tofu is sometimes packaged in aseptic boxes that do not require refrigeration. Because of this, silken tofu is sometimes sold in a different section of the grocery store than regular tofu, which is packed in water and requires refrigeration.
Note: You can make your own pumpkin pie spice by mixing 1 ¼ teaspoons cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon each of ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 310; PROTEIN 6G; CARBOHYDRATES 37G; TOTAL FAT 17G; SATURATED FAT 2.3G; SODIUM 24MG; FIBER 6.3G; BETA-CAROTENE 7,784MCG; VITAMIN C 29MG; CALCIUM 91MG; IRON 3.1MG; FOLATE 23MCG; MAGNESIUM 53MG; ZINC 1.2MG; SELENIUM 1.3MCG
Vanilla or Chocolate Nice Cream
SERVES 4
¼ cup raw walnuts
2 ripe bananas, frozen (see Note)
⅓ cup soy, hemp, or almond milk (frozen ahead of time)
4 regular or 2 Medjool dates, pitted
1 teaspoon nonalcoholic vanilla extract or
2 tablespoons natural nonalkalized cocoa powder
Using a high-powered blender, blend walnuts to a fine powder. Add remaining ingredients and blend on high speed until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately or store in freezer for later use.
Note: Freeze ripe bananas at least 8 hours in advance. Peel bananas and seal in a plastic bag before freezing.
PER SERVING: CALORIES 141; PROTEIN 2G; CARBOHYDRATES 25G; TOTAL FAT 4.6G; SATURATED FAT 0.5G; SODIUM 11MG; FIBER 2.9G; BETA-CAROTENE 27MCG; VITAMIN C 5MG; CALCIUM 22MG; IRON 0.6MG; FOLATE 23MCG; MAGNESIUM 38MG; ZINC 0.4MG; SELENIUM 1.9MCG
CHAPTER NINE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. I KNOW LOTS OF PEOPLE WHO EAT FAST FOOD AND JUNK FOOD ALL THE TIME, AND THEY ARE PERFECTLY HEALTHY AND PLENTY SMART. WHAT ABOUT THAT?
We all have different genetic weaknesses and tendencies. Some people are more sensitive to nutritional insults than others. Some of us can resist apparent signs of early life damage even when eating suboptimally. However, damage still accumulates over the years, and it almost always catches up with us, resulting in serious disease in midlife or later. Nobody escapes the cumulative damage from a diet heavy in fast foods, even if the damage can’t be seen when we’re younger.
The United States has the most overweight and diabetic population ever recorded in the history of the world. The amount of suffering experienced today by so many people with serious medical conditions that can be avoided is simply heartbreaking. We have to expect that those people who are eating the unhealthiest and are the most addicted to food will be the ones who most resist change. They often propose irrational excuses why they should not change their bad habits. Lots of people still smoke cigarettes; everyone is not going to quit, despite the overwhelming evidence of danger. All we can hope for is that everyone is properly informed and educated. My hope and goal are to make the tools available for those who want to protect their health and the health of their loved ones, and that those who want to, can get professional help to change when they need it.
Age of Death: SAD vs. Nutritarian Diet
LIFE SPAN PROBABILITIES: A BELL-SHAPED CURVE
Let’s look at age of death. If you plot age of death among people on a similar diet, you get a bell-shaped curve of possibilities, where the center of the curve represents the average age of death for a particular population. If there is a great difference between the ages at which people die, the width of the curve is greater. If there is less difference, the width is narrower. For people eating the SAD, the curve is wide, meaning that people eating this diet die at a wide variety of ages. Some live much longer, which is balanced with others who die very young.
If we look at populations eating heavily from natural plants and avoiding processed foods (the “Nutritarian diet” on the figure), such as in the Blue Zones around the world, the curve not only shifts to the right by ten to fifteen years (that is, people live longer generally), but it also narrows considerably. Without poor nutrition, people are much less likely to die prematurely (except for accidents). My experience as a physician over the past twenty-five years caring for thousands of people adhering to my nutritional guidance (Nutritarians) has indicated that thriving well into one’s 90s is not just possible, but most probable.
The vast majority of adults older than 65 in the United States take medications for their heart and high blood pressure. Many also take diabetes medications and antidepressants. Almost all Americans die of diseases related to nutritional ignorance. But premature death is not the only problem; all the morbidity, suffering, and physical, emotional, and intellectual deficits that occur as people age make their lives very difficult and even tragic. The fast food eaters don’t just die fifteen to twenty years prematurely; they suffer greatly (and needlessly) during the last two decades of their lives.
I believe that many millions of people would be willing to make more substantial dietary improvements if they knew about and understood the true risks involved with taking medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar levels. Medications are not very effective at mitigating the morbidity and mortality associated with these chronic diseases of dietary folly. Dramatic protection against heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer cannot and does not occur from access to medical care; it can only happen when people eat very healthfully—and when they have the information they need to take charge of their health destiny. The problem is that too many millions of people do not have this information. Nor do many of them have access to healthy foods, as we have seen.
They are not given the opportunity to even make the choice to live healthfully.
But with that information and available healthy food, and with effort and time spent learning new recipes, we can all find that a healthy diet becomes more and more enjoyable as our taste and food preferences change the more we eat healthy food. Healthy food can taste great! You don’t enjoy living more when you eat dangerously.
“I heard the food doesn’t taste so good once you’re in the coffin.”
2. WHY CAN’T A MULTIVITAMIN MAKE UP FOR WHAT PROCESSED FOODS LACK?
Real food contains too many important factors that have never seen the inside of a vitamin pill. An important message of this book is that we need to eat real food to be healthy: We cannot expect supplements to do the job for us.
Many delicate, valuable phytonutrients are lost through processing and cooking food. These nutrients number in the thousands, and eating a variety of plants is the only way to get them. Important phytochemicals form during chewing, as plant enzymes are released and activated. Some of these enzymes are heat-sensitive, so the more the plant food is cooked, the more nutrients are lost.
For example, eating a salad every day made up of mostly raw vegetables is a critical centerpiece of a health-supporting, life span–enhancing diet. The reason is because heat inactivates the enzyme myrosinase, which is needed for the production of cell-supporting and cancer-fighting nutrients. Many of these phytonutrients are not as available in cooked vegetables. The same thing is true regarding the health benefits of raw scallions, onions, and shallots, to maintain function of the enzyme called alliinase. Hundreds of other delicate, supportive compounds are found in colorful plants that interact with each other to improve and safeguard our health, and these compounds and enzymes cannot be found in supplements.
I want to add an important but much more radical and universally unappreciated point here. The fortification and supplementation of foods with petroleum-derived folic acid may actually increase the risk of disease, and even more tragic, increase the risk of cancer and a premature death.
Fast Food Genocide Page 27