Can This Red Cabbage Recipe Prevent Alzheimer’s?

The Alzheimer’s association came out with a frightening report this week that you may have seen on the news. An astounding 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia and a new case is diagnosed every 70 seconds. That’s almost one half million new cases per year! And although I read far more about how they are trying to discover a magic drug to cure this terrible disease, I don’t see enough research trying to prevent it or linking it with nutritional deficiencies. The fact that the majority of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients also suffer from other serious degenerative disorders like hypertension, coronary heart disease and diabetes (often linked to poor diets and lack of exercise), suggests to me that this one is too. So a lifestyle that includes exercise and a healthy diet is not only beneficial for your heart health and blood sugar but should also help mitigate the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Research shows that there is an increase in the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s which could lead to cell death from free radicals. A study published in Food Science and Technology showed polyphenols in red cabbage, particularly its anthocyanins, can protect brain cells against this damage. Scientists Heo and Lee concluded that “additional consumption of vegetables such as red cabbages may be beneficial to increase chemopreventive effects in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s”. So yes, maybe my red cabbage recipe can help prevent Alzheimer’s.

I developed this recipe one year when we planted a dozen red cabbage seedlings. A few months later we had a dozen, enormous, ripe red cabbages. I cooked these cabbages in every way possible but my favorite recipe was clearly Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and Apples. It was inspired by the Pennsylvania Red Cabbage in my Better Homes New Cook Book. I liked the idea of mixing red cabbage with apples and the contrast of the brown sugar and vinegar. However, it used bacon drippings (I don’t eat bacon and if I did, I certainly wouldn’t be cooking with the saturated fat that dripped off of it); it used a bit too much sugar and added caraway seeds. So I took the things I liked about it and made it healthier. I encourage you to do the same. When you have a recipe you like but it’s got too many unhealthy ingredients, focus on the spices and ingredients that make it tasty and reduce the excess fat, sugar and salt. It’s fun to experiment and you might end up with a real gem!

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Sweet And Sour Red Cabbage And Apples [serves 6]
1 medium head of red cabbage, cut in quarters, cored, and thinly sliced
3 apples, diced with skin
1/3 cup white or apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup unsweetened apple juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt (more or less to taste)
¼ teaspoon black pepper

In a large pot, combine thinly sliced cabbage, diced apples, vinegar, apple juice, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Once boiling, lower the heat, stir and cook covered for 15 minutes. Remove the cover and cook uncovered for about 15 minutes, stirring often, until the liquid is evaporated, and the cabbage is the desired texture.

Per serving: 108 calories, .2 g of fat, zero grams saturated fat, zero mg cholesterol, 2 g protein, 27.3 g carbohydrate, and 5 g of fiber.

Fun With Spaghetti Squash

Baby artichoke sauce on spaghetti squash.

Pulling the spaghetti strands from the sides.

Simmering the baby artichokes.

"Double spaghetti".



I lied when I said butternut squash was my last fling with winter squash this year. I couldn’t resist a spaghetti squash at the grocery store and I always have so much fun preparing them. OK, you’re asking, how much fun can you have with spaghetti squash? But, if you’ve never made it, you will be delighted when you turn this football shaped, 3 pound squash into delicate strands of low calorie spaghetti. If you are trying to get your kids (or anyone else in your family) to eat more vegetables, try mixing a little spaghetti with spaghetti squash for what I call, “double spaghetti”.

Spaghetti squash can replace regular spaghetti in any recipe where you want to prepare a lighter dish that has fewer calories and gets you closer to your goal of 5 to 7 fruits and vegetables a day. One cup of spaghetti is 221 calories and 43 grams of carbohydrates. One cup of cooked spaghetti squash is only 42 calories and 10 grams of carbohydrates. So if you are trying to lose weight but still crave pasta, this can really do the trick!

I’ll be sharing my brother Peter's vegetarian baby artichoke sauce recipe but first, let’s cook up the squash.

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Steamed Spaghetti Squash
1 three pound spaghetti squash cut in half
Sea salt

Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds and sprinkle the insides with salt. Put them in a large pot and steam them in an inch or two of water. Some people bake them in the oven until the skin is soft but I worry that you can overcook them and not know until it’s too late. Overcooking causes the squash to be mushy and you don’t get the beautiful spaghetti strands that you are looking for. Steam for about 15 to 18 minutes or until a fork can gently pierce the inside of the squash. As soon as that happens, remove the squash halves from the pot immediately. Then, using a fork, gently pull the squash away from the sides. You’ll see little strands form. Continue to do this until all of the squash comes away from the skin. One large spaghetti squash can feed 4 people.

Per 1 ½ cup serving: 63 calories, zero grams of fat, zero mg of cholesterol, 1.5 g protein, 15 g of carbohydrates and 3 g of fiber.

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Double Spaghetti [makes 4 servings]
¼ pound of whole wheat spaghetti
4 cups cooked spaghetti squash

Cook the spaghetti squash as stated above. Cook the whole wheat pasta according to directions. Toss together and serve with a sauce of your choice.

Per serving: 147 calories, zero grams of fat, zero mg of cholesterol, 4.5 g protein, 31 g of carbohydrates and 4.5 g of fiber.

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Pete’s Baby Artichoke Sauce [serves 4]
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 pound of baby artichokes, sliced vertically into 8 pieces
1 small onion or large shallot, cut in half and then in thin slices
The juice and zest of one lemon
½ cup of white wine (and another glass for the chef)
2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Water or broth, as needed

Clean the artichokes by removing several outer layers of leaves (don’t skimp – if you don’t remove enough of the outer leaves, as I found out, the artichokes will be tough). Leave the stem on and peel it with a potato peeler. Cut vertically into 8 pieces. Sauté the onion or shallot in the olive oil for a few minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Then add the artichokes, white wine, salt and pepper and simmer covered until soft (about 30 minutes – but all artichokes are different so test the leaves occasionally). Add ½ cup or more of water or broth when the sauce starts to get too thick. When the artichokes are soft, stir in the zest and juice of a lemon. Put over 4 servings of spaghetti squash or “double spaghetti”. Cover with fresh chopped parsley and parmesan cheese. For a better melding of the flavors, you can mix the spaghetti squash or “double spaghetti” into the sauce first and then serve but it isn’t as pretty a presentation.

Per serving of sauce: 128 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 2 mg cholesterol, 4.5 g protein, 14.5 g carbohydrates and 8.3 g fiber.

Spicy Vegan Butternut Squash And Red Lentil Dahl With Cauliflower And Whole Grain Pasta

Mash dahl and squash with a potato masher to retain chunkiness.


A Last Fling with Winter Squash

It’s almost spring and soon it will become harder to find winter squash but before that happens, let’s have one more fling! Although summer squash is delicious and low in calories, it is mostly water and doesn’t pack the nutritional punch that winter squash does.

The deep orange flesh of a butternut squash is indicative of its high beta carotene content. The body converts beta carotene into vitamin A which is important for healthy vision, growth and development, healthy skin and proper immune function. People with night blindness, dry and scaly skin or who have more frequent infections are often deficient in vitamin A.

Butternut squash is also a very good source of potassium which is important for bone health and is critical in maintaining the proper functioning of the heart, nervous system and the regulation of blood pressure. A good amount of manganese is also found in this winter squash which supports amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism as well as bone health, blood sugar balance and energy production. Butternut squash is also high in fiber and vitamin C.

This spicy soup recipe makes a hearty vegetarian meal. I served it at a dinner party last night along with a salad and some mini corn muffins. Although most of the guests were not vegetarian, no one missed the meat. Its heartiness and high protein content comes from the red lentils and whole grain pasta shells. The squash, cauliflower, red lentils and whole grains also contribute to the 10 grams of heart healthy fiber per serving which also makes it a filling dish.

The “heat” or spicy flavor comes from an old favorite I learned about at the University of Texas – Rotel tomatoes. I recently rediscovered them in a nearby grocery store. I shunned them for many years because I associated them with their famous but extremely unhealthy Velveeta cheese “Queso Dip” recipe which packed 1,410 calories, 99 grams of fat, 64 grams of saturated fat and 8,020 mg of sodium. But I threw the baby out with the bath water when actually the Rotel tomatoes themselves have no fat and are low in calories with only 50 calories in an entire 10 ounce can. They also have an abundance of lycopene from the tomatoes which is said to help lower the risk of prostate cancer. Although Rotel tomatoes are high in sodium, you can use it to flavor your soup if you are careful not to add too much additional salt. If you can't find them, just use a can of diced tomatoes with a fresh jalapeno.

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Spicy Butternut Squash and Dahl
[makes 6 servings]
2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups of vegetable broth 
4 ½ cups of diced butternut squash
1 cup of dahl (dried red lentils), rinsed well
1 can of Rotel tomatoes (or a 14.5 can of diced tomato and a jalapeno)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
½ teaspoon of ground coriander ½ can of low fat coconut milk
½ head of cauliflower cut into small flowerets
1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon of salt (more or less to taste)
6 ounces (dry) of whole wheat shell pasta cooked according to directions


In a 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven, heat olive oil and sauté onions until soft (about 5 minutes). Add garlic and cook an additional minute or two. 
Add the broth, butternut squash, dahl, Rotel tomatoes, cumin and coriander and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  
After the soup cooks for 30 minutes and the dahl is soft, mash the squash and dahl in the pot with a potato masher (some might wish to puree but I like the resulting chunkiness of the soup and to be able to see the red streaks of the tomato). 
Stir in the coconut milk and the cauliflower flowerets and simmer for another 10 minutes or until they are just soft but not mushy. 
Add the fresh lime juice, add salt to taste. 
Right before serving, stir in the cooked pasta shells, and enjoy.

Per serving: 340 calories, 5.7 g fat, .3 g saturated fat, 13.6 g protein, 60.5 g carbohydrates and 10 g of fiber.

Artichokes, My Favorite Vegetable

No celebration of the vegetable would be complete without my favorite food, the artichoke. My mother would stuff them with a breadcrumb mixture and steam them until they almost fell apart. Eating them was a learned skill – one that is taught to Italian children at a young age. First you gently scrape each leaf between your teeth enjoying the artichoke leaf and filling together. When the leaves are finished, you lightly salt and eat the bottom after removing the “choke”. Then there is the game of trying to get others at the table to give you their stems and bottoms (the most coveted parts of the artichoke). Ah the childhood memories! Sometimes my mother would wrap one up in foil and put it in my lunch box. Children would point and stare as if they had never seen one in their lives. I guess I should have felt embarrassed but any feeling of shame was surpassed by my sheer enjoyment of eating my very favorite food.

Artichokes are very high in fiber and provide a healthy dose of Vitamin C, Vitamin K, folate and manganese.

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Italian Stuffed Artichokes
4 medium artichokes
1 cup of plain bread crumbs
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 tablespoons parmesan cheese
4 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
¼ teaspoon of black pepper

Holding the stem, cut the pointed top of the artichoke with a sharp knife. Then, with a pair of scissors, cut the tops of each of the remaining leaves by about ½ inch. Remove the bottom stem with a knife so that the artichoke can sit flat. Peel the stem and set aside. Wash the artichoke under cold water while slightly opening the leaves. Drain upside down while preparing the filling. In a small bowl, mix the bread crumbs, parsley, garlic powder, parmesan, salt and pepper. With a teaspoon, fill each leaf with a small amount of the mixture. Place 4 artichokes on a steamer in a large, deep soup pot with water coming up slightly above the bottom of the artichokes. Drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil on each artichoke. Place the stem on top of each artichoke. Sprinkle a little salt over the stems and tops and steam for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until the leaves can be easily removed and the leaves are very tender. Add more hot water to the pot as the water level goes down.

Per serving: 233 calories, 7.5 g fat, 2.3 g saturated fat, 8.5 g protein, 33.5 g carbohydrates, and 11.3 g of fiber.

Vegan Lemon Tahini Encrusted Baked Cauliflower - An Elegant Presentation

The American Cancer Society recommends eating 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day to help prevent cancer. If you actually ate that many low calorie, phytochemical and antioxidant rich foods each day, you would also be going a long way to preventing other diseases as well, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. So why are so many people not able to reach these minimum levels even though they totally understand their importance?

One of the reasons, I believe, is that many people just don’t know what to do with them. My son and I had a long discussion about this on his last visit home. He was making this amazing mushroom bourguignon and I told him how incredibly proud of him I was that he could cook such a beautiful meal so effortlessly. Besides creating this incredible vegetarian dish, he appeared to be enjoying himself immensely. We then had this long talk on how many men and women, young and old, don’t really feel that they need to cook. Some even feel that it’s beneath them—that their successful careers have “liberated” them from this horrible chore. He told me that he really respected me for being able to have an important career and still care about cooking my family a healthy meal and teaching my children how to do the same. I have never been paid a greater complement.

I believe there are several factors in play right now that are encouraging people to return to the kitchen, or even find it for the first time. One, it’s a lot cheaper to eat at home. With the state of the economy and so many people out of work, this is a big motivation to cook. Two, it’s safer. I’ve heard of more cases of food poisoning this last year than in the last ten. I just saw a news clip showing an insurgence of rats in New York restaurants as their owners can no longer afford to exterminate. It will take a while to get that visual out of my head. Three, it’s healthier. You can control what and how much you prepare. You can select healthy, organic vegetables, hormone-free meat and dairy and leave out the excess fat and salt usually found in restaurant prepared dishes. Four, it can be fun. You can make it an event with everyone having something to do—chop, decorate the table, making a dessert. My friend Lisa and I still remember many nights of cooking together when we were neighbors—drinking a nice glass of wine while making our favorite chanterelle mushroom risotto. If you live alone, cook a meal for two or even four and enjoy leftovers during the week. Light a candle, pour a glass of sparkling water and enjoy yourself knowing that you are doing something wonderful for your body. It’s important to take the time to do this because it is too easy to fall into a pattern of just eating a bowl of cereal because you don’t want to cook for one. Eventually your health will suffer.

So I want to encourage you to not only cook but get committed to creating meals that will nourish and heal you. Put more and more vegetables on your plate. I will continue to present you with new, delicious and healthy ways to prepare them. In fact, I will dedicate March to “Celebrating the Vegetable”.

Here’s an elegant and unusual way to prepare cauliflower. Rich in the phytochemical, sulforaphane, this cruciferous vegetable has tumor fighting capabilities. It’s also high in dietary fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Folate, Pantothenic acid, Potassium and Manganese.

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Lemon-Tahini Encrusted Baked Cauliflower
1 medium or large head of cauliflower
2 tablespoons of tahini (I prefer raw, but roasted is fine too)
1/3 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of ½ a lemon, about ½ tablespoon
¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne (more or less to taste)
1 t of salt (or less depending on taste and dietary restrictions)
¼ cup of water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Keeping the cauliflower whole, remove the leaves and stem and wash under cold water. Steam whole for 22 minutes. While steaming the cauliflower, prepare a lemon-tahini paste with the remainder of the ingredients (you may have to add additional water or flour until you get a good consistency that will stick to the cauliflower). Carefully remove the cauliflower from the steamer and place it on a slightly oiled cookie sheet. Pour the lemon-tahini mixture over the cauliflower and with a butter knife, cover the top and sides as if you were icing a cake. Bake for 30 minutes, until the crust is firm. Cut into slices with a sharp knife.

Per serving: 113 calories, 4.9 g fat, less than 1 g of saturated fat, 5.3 g protein,
14.8 g carbohydrate and 5 g of fiber.

Warm Scallop And Asparagus Salad

Scallops are my husband’s favorite seafood and asparagus one of his favorite vegetables, so when I found them BOTH on sale last week, I jumped all over it.

Although scallops have some cholesterol, they are low in calories and fat and make a wonderful food when you are trying to lose weight. Although there have been warnings about mercury, the FDA considers scallops “low mercury” seafood and allows 2 servings or 12 ounces of this popular shell fish per week. Scallops are also a good source of protein and vitamin B12.

Asparagus, a mild diuretic, is also low in calories and is an excellent source of folic acid and vitamins A, C and K.

Here’s a light but very filling salad which is perfect as a main dinner course.

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Scallop And Asparagus Salad [makes 2 servings]
8 large scallops, about 10 oz.
8 large or 12 small asparagus spears
½ head of red leaf lettuce, cleaned and torn
½ medium red bell pepper cut into strips
¼ cup of red onion, thinly sliced
½ medium avocado, sliced
1 T of freshly squeezed lemon juice Zest of one lemon*
2 T of extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large fresh white or crimini mushroom
¼ t of dried tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Clean the scallops VERY well by rinsing under a gentle stream of cold water making sure all of the sand is removed. Put the scallops in a bowl and gently mix with ½ T of olive oil, lemon zest, tarragon, and minced garlic. Set aside. Clean the asparagus very well and place in a shallow baking pan, 1 layer deep. Drizzle with ½ T of olive oil, salt and pepper and shake the pan back and forth until coated. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, gently shaking mid way through the cooking to make sure they don’t stick. When cooked, remove the pan from the oven and set aside.

Mix the lettuce, red bell pepper, red onion and mushroom. Make a dressing of the remaining 1T of olive oil, 1 T of lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add to the salad and mix gently. Place the salad mixture in two large plates and garnish each of the plates with avocado slices.

In a no-stick skillet, on medium-high heat, cook the scallops 4 minutes per side. The oil in the marinade should be sufficient for cooking. While cooking, sprinkle lightly with salt and fresh ground pepper. Place 4 cooked scallops and half of the asparagus over each plate of salad. Serve immediately.

Per serving: 340 calories, 23.8 g of fat, 2.8 g saturated fat, 45 g cholesterol, 27.3 g protein, 16.3 g carbohydrate, and 3.8 g of fiber.

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*Put Zest Into Your Life!
Whenever you use an organic lemon, wash it well and zest it. I use a Microplane zester/grater for the job (as pictured). It’s one of the most useful kitchen gadgets I own and it’s only around $10 to $12. Dry whatever you don’t use of the lemon zest and save for use in soups and baked goods, or sprinkle generously on fish, poultry and vegetables. Research has shown that limonene, found in lemon peel, may decrease cancer risk. You can also do this with oranges or grapefruit.

5 Minutes To A Healthy Breakfast Salad

Mornings can be tough. You’re tired, in a hurry to get to work, trying to get the kids to school, and focused on the tasks of the day. Preparing a healthy breakfast is usually the last thing on your mind. Many people just grab a quick bowl of cereal or skip it all together. Others think a Starbuck’s cafe latte is enough to start the day or the Krispy Kremes brought in by a co-worker.

I know you are tired of hearing how important this much neglected meal of the day is. But you are being nagged for a reason; actually, for a number of reasons.

Breakfast is just what is says. It “breaks” the “fast”. You haven’t eaten in 12 hours. If you are like me, you are either eating or nibbling every few hours during the day and then morning comes around and you haven’t eaten since dinner time. If you skip breakfast, this time can stretch to 18 hours. This can have several affects on your body. Starving the body usually causes a slowing of the metabolism. Skipping breakfast can cause you to lack the energy and concentration you need to do your job, study or whatever else you do. It can also make you overly hungry for lunch causing you to overeat or make poor choices.

Here’s a very healthy, colorful and delicious breakfast that everyone in the family will enjoy. It only takes a few minutes to prepare and it provides about one third of your daily fiber needs.

You can assemble a healthy breakfast salad in many ways. I like to use one crisp fruit (like a pear or apple), a sweet, softer fruit (banana, peach, mango, papaya), berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries), raw nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans) and a topping (coconut or a healthy cereal like Ezekiel sprouted grain or Post grape-nuts). Use your imagination and select your favorite fruits and nuts, especially focusing on ones that are local, organic and in season. I even threw in an avocado this morning. Yumm!

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5 Minute Breakfast Salad [makes 2 servings]
1 large pear, diced
1 medium banana, vertically cut in half and sliced into half moons
1 cup of blueberries
¼ cup of chopped raw walnuts
2 T of unsweetened shredded coconut

Toss together gently and serve immediately.

Per serving: 293 calories, 12.8 g of fat, 3.9 g of saturated fat, 4.3 g of protein, 45.5 g carbohydrates, and 9 g of fiber.

Vitamin B6 A “New Drug”? Oh My!

Recently, the FDA declared pyridoxamine, a naturally occurring form of vitamin B6, “a new drug”. I find this incredibly troubling. Don’t you? The FDA was given “regulatory functions” as a result of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 whose purpose was to protect the American people from dangerous drugs and food. Some of the important things they do include evaluating new drugs, medical devices, as well as additives to food and baby formulas. Their employees inspect food manufacturing facilities to ensure food safety. When I see harmful drugs, like Vioxx, get approved by the FDA and cause tens of thousands of heart attacks, I begin to think that these guys must be stretched pretty thin. Then when you see hundreds of people get sickened by peanut butter made in “inspected” facilities that knew there was salmonella in their product, it makes me feel that the FDA has really taken their eye off the ball! So with all of the critical issues facing food and drug safety today, why would the FDA spend OUR money on declaring vitamin B6 a “new drug”?

It’s not a secret that the FDA would like to see more nutritional supplements regulated and the drug companies would like these relatively inexpensive substances all be declared drugs. There’s a lot more profit in prescription drugs and the drug companies may feel that they are losing out to what’s become a multi-billion dollar nutritional supplements industry. A week doesn’t go by that you don’t see an article trying to discredit the benefits of vitamins. Just this week, the New York Times wrote a piece, “Vitamin Pills: A False Hope”? What’s troubling is that this war between the holistic community and the traditional medical community has cause tremendous confusion, not to mention distrust. I must admit, when I see an article like this, my first response is, “what drug company paid for this study”? But then I read it trying my best to extract the truth.

Many of the vitamin studies are difficult to decipher. If you track multivitamin users, as they did with the 161,000 older women in the Women’s Health Initiative study depicted in the New York Times article, you aren’t really sure what they took. All multivitamins are not created equal. Some are synthetic with incredibly high doses of isolated nutrients and some, more recently developed supplements, are based on organic whole foods which contain smaller doses of more naturally occurring forms of these vitamins and minerals. One wouldn’t expect the results from these different multivitamins to be the same.

So with all of this confusion, what’s the best thing to do? Like everything else, become your own nutritionist. Become informed. Find out what you need and if you are getting it. Ask your doctor for a blood test to measure your level of vitamins and minerals. I was recently surprised when my naturopath told me that my blood test indicated that I was low in vitamin D. She recommended I immediately increase my vitamin D3 supplementation. Without a blood test, you are shooting in the dark. Many vegans are deficient in vitamins D and B12, since there is no source of these vitamins in the plant kingdom, and unfortunately don’t realize it until they become seriously deficient. Whether or not you can correct your deficiencies with wholesome food or supplements, it’s always good to get the proper data.

So how does this new FDA approval affect you? The RDA (Recommended Daily Requirement) for vitamin B6 is 1.3 mg for adult men and women. It increases to 1.7 mg for men and 1.5 mg for women over the age of 51. Although this vitamin is found in many different foods, it is not very highly concentrated in any of them. Some of it is also lost in the cooking process so many people may need to supplement in order to get sufficient amounts. Vitamin B6 plays a key role in amino acid metabolism, as well as maintaining proper balance of sodium and potassium which allows the proper functioning of the nervous and muscular system. It also supports red blood cell metabolism. Deficiency symptoms include water retention (B6 is often found in water pills used to reduce bloating), anemia, nervousness, depression, skin inflammation, confusion and convulsions. Here are some good food sources for this important vitamin:

Food: Amount, % RDA
Wild Atlantic Salmon: 4 oz cooked, 92%
Banana: ½ cup, 64%
Chicken Breast: 4 oz broiled, 62%
California Avocado: ½ cup, 51%
Crude Rice Bran: 2T, 46%
Garbanzo Bean: ½ cup, 42%
Baked Potato: 1 medium, 38%
Cheerios: 1 cup, 38%
Pistachio Nut: 1 ounce, 34%
Sweet Red Pepper: 1 cup raw, 33%
Fig: 4 large, 31%
Yam: 1 cup cooked, 23%

If the drug companies actually do go after companies making nutritional supplements containing pyridoxamine, you will either have to go to a doctor for a prescription in order to acquire this vitamin, or make sure you eat foods like those mentioned above. Hopefully it will not get to the point that our local pharmacies start dispensing bananas, but you never know!

Chocolates Without Guilt – Tropical, Chocolate Truffles

Sometimes research presents us with facts we don’t want to hear but every now and then we receive a gift. Like, finding out that chocolate is actually good for us! Anyone who has ever eaten chocolate is familiar with its ability to “lift our moods”. There is also evidence that chocolate can lower high blood pressure. In addition, the flavonoids (polyphenols) in chocolate are very powerful antioxidants which can counteract harmful free radicals. The good news just keeps coming! But before we go buy a bag of snickers bars, you need to know a few factoids:

• Data showed only dark chocolate was effective in lowering blood pressure

• Studies indicate milk may prevent the antioxidant absorption from chocolate so here’s another vote for dark over milk or white chocolate

• Flavonoids are weakened when cacao is processed

• Many chocolate treats are very high in saturated fat and calories so they should be eaten in moderation no matter how good they are for you

I have a recipe that can give you all the benefits of chocolate but none of the guilt. This RAW VEGAN CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE recipe has no milk, very little saturated fat, ZERO cholesterol and no unnecessary processing of the cacao. It makes a perfect Valentine gift and is VERY AFFORDABLE and easy to make. Compared to a Godiva truffle, our recipe has 75% of the calories, 60% of the fat, only 20% of the saturated fat and twice the fiber at a fraction of the cost.

I have served these guiltless chocolate treats to dozens of people of all ages and food preferences, who gobbled them down and pleaded for the recipe. With all the goodness of these precious morsels, I haven’t been able to remove the calories so if you are trying to lose weight, you will have to restrain yourself to several a day.

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Tropical Chocolate Truffles, With Mango And Coconut [makes 28 truffles]
1 ½ cups of raw walnuts
12 pitted Medjool dates
1/3 cup of raw cacao
1/3 cup of finely chopped, dried mango*
3 T of raw, unsweetened, shredded coconut (optional)

*Mango can be replaced with other dried fruit, like dried apricots or cherries

Cut dates in half, remove and discard the pits, and set dates aside. Take ¼ cup of walnuts, chop and set aside. Put remaining 1 ¼ cups of walnuts in a food processor with an S blade and process until fine. (In an 11 cup food processor, this will take about 20 seconds). Add the pitted dates and blend until the nuts and dates stick together, around 45 seconds. Add cacao and salt and blend until the mixture is smooth (another 20 seconds). Times may vary depending on the size of the dates and the food processor. Put the mixture into a bowl and, by hand, mix in the chopped mango and chopped walnuts until they are evenly distributed throughout. From this mixture, make about 28 round truffles by shaping and gently rolling them in your hands. After each one is made, roll immediately in shredded coconut. Refrigerate truffles for several hours before serving. They will last for a week in the refrigerator; however, they usually disappear long before that!

Each truffle has 81 calories, 4.6 g of fat, .8 g of saturated fat, NO cholesterol, 1.3 g of protein, 10.7 g of carbohydrate and 1.8 g of fiber.

Black Bean Salsa For Your Super Bowl Party

What should you bring to the Super Bowl party? Let’s see—greasy chicken wings or fried mozzarella sticks? Hard choice I know, but Super Bowl Sunday doesn’t have to be the junk food holiday of the year. Four chicken wings deliver 376 calories and 24 grams of fat, 8 grams of which are saturated. A regular order of mozzarella sticks packs on 425 calories with 22 grams of fat, 10 grams of it saturated. Save those calories for a cold beer and bring a delicious, spicy salsa.

I love to make salsa when I’m in a pinch. It’s so quick and easy and there are infinite possibilities that can fit right into a healthy diet. As a dip, a salsa can be served with baked chips or vegetable crudités. As a main meal, a bean salsa (like our featured black bean salsa), can be wrapped in a tortilla for a low fat, high fiber, vegan taco. As a chicken or shrimp fajita topping, we can substitute the beans with fruit, like mango or peaches.

One of the important ingredients in salsa is cilantro. Did you know that this popular herb has been shown to bind to heavy metals in our blood and carry them out of the body? This “chelating” quality makes cilantro very important in reducing heavy metal toxicity. Many people have heavy metals like lead and mercury in their blood which can lead to significant health problems. Two years ago, I had all the amalgam fillings in my teeth removed because I wanted to reduce my exposure to mercury. So I feel really good about eating cilantro knowing that it’s helping sweep away those heavy metals that could compromise my health.

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Black Bean Salsa [makes 3 ½ cups of salsa]

1 cup cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 cup red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
¾ cup of cooked black beans, rinsed well (about ½ of a 15 oz. can)
1/3 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 clove of fresh garlic, finely chopped
1 small avocado, chopped
1 fresh jalapeno (more or less to taste)
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 ½ T freshly squeezed lime juice
½ t salt (more or less to taste)
Dash of cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)

Mix the lime juice with the garlic, jalapeno, salt and cayenne. Combine with the rest of the ingredients and mix gently. Add additional salt and cayenne if needed.

Per 1/2 cup – 91 calories, 3 g of fat, NO saturated fat, 3 g protein, 14 g carbohydrates, 4 g fiber.

Try a Raw Kale Salad and a Raw Green Kale Smoothie!

Raw kale salad with carrots

Kale smoothie.


I must admit, I wasn’t introduced to kale until a few years ago. Growing up in an Italian home, I ate tons of vegetables at every meal – but unfortunately, not kale. Perhaps it was my mother’s preference for chard which she would sauté with some garlic, olive oil and black olives or throw in soups.

I think a lot of people may be strangers to kale. After all, the Dinosaur kale in the supermarket occasionally looks tough enough to resole the bottoms of your shoes. But don’t be deceived. This type of kale and other types, like green and red Russian kale, are wonderful to prepare in many ways. I’ll share 2 of my favorite healthy recipes with you. Of course, the freshest and the most tender kale comes out of your garden. Try growing it. It’s easy and grows well in the spring and fall in most parts of the country. In milder climates it even grows all winter. If you don’t have room, grow it in a pot. If my daughter can grow vegetables on her fire escape in Manhattan, anyone can have a little garden! My son and his wife replaced their entire front yard with raised beds full of vegetables. After all, if you can’t eat it, why grow it?

I was introduced to this wonderful vegetable at a raw food potluck. Then later, when I was doing research for my PhD in holistic nutrition, I discovered the nutritional importance of this food. It turns out that kale is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. For only 36 calories per cup of cooked kale (or 33 calories per cup of raw kale) you can get more than your daily requirement of vitamins K and A and almost ¾ of your vitamin C needs. It can also provide you with some very important B vitamins like thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and folate. Minerals like copper, calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, manganese and phosphorus are also well represented in this nutrient powerhouse. It is also a good source of vitamin E and the important omega 3 essential fatty acid. Kale gives you all this while providing a healthy dose of dietary fiber

Besides the impressive nutrient content, it contains important phytochemicals. Kale is categorized as both a leafy green vegetable and a cruciferous vegetable and BOTH are known to protect the body from cancer.

Here are a few of my favorite ways to prepare kale. The first is a raw, vegan salad and the other may be a surprise to you but it‘s great in your morning smoothie!

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Raw Kale Salad [serves 4 as a side dish]
This is a simple, easy to make, nutritious salad. It makes a big hit at family dinners and potlucks. Unlike lettuce, this salad does not wilt and get soggy so you can make it the day before. I actually think it tastes better the next day!

4 cups of shredded kale (dinosaur, red or green Russian or a mixture of all three)
2/3 cups of grated carrot
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T red onion, finely chopped
¼ t salt (or more to taste)
Dash of black pepper

Wash the kale well. Remove and discard the center stalk and thinly slice to get 4 packed cups of kale. Place the kale in a salad bowl. Mix the lemon juice, olive oil and salt and add to the kale, gently working it in with your hands to tenderize it. Add the grated carrots, chopped red onion and dash of pepper and mix well. Add additional salt if needed.

Per serving: 71.5 calories, 3.5 g of fat, .5 g of saturated fat, .25 g protein, 9.25 g carbohydrates, 1.5 g fiber.

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Kale Smoothie [serves 2]
Most people wouldn’t think of throwing greens in their breakfast drink but it’s a great way to get more veggies in your diet. I will be sharing many smoothie and soup recipes that require thorough blending. For this, I use a Vita-Mix, www.vitamix.com, and urge you to get a high speed blender of this quality. I use mine almost every day and have given one to each of my children who now have their own homes. They are pricey but well worth it. You can sometimes find them used or reconditioned.

2 large leaves of green kale
1 medium apple
1 small banana or ½ large banana
2 cups unsweetened soymilk (or nut milk for a raw, vegan version of recipe)
3 drops of stevia (or sweetener of your choice)
½ cup of crushed ice Put all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth.

Serve in two tall glasses and enjoy!

Per serving: 181.5 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g unsaturated fat, 7.5 g protein, 29 g carbohydrates, 4.5 g fiber.

Taking Health Care Into Our Own Hands

It’s inauguration day, the day many have been waiting for. We have a new president and most Americans have very high hopes. One of their hopes includes fixing our very broken health care system and improving the declining health of the American people. I, like many, have been active in the Obama home meetings to discuss this health care issue. Recently I hosted a neighborhood gathering to collect input for Senator Daschle’s health care initiative. There was overwhelming consensus on two things. First, all Americans should have the right to affordable, high quality health care. Secondly, all Americans should have access to things that would prevent them from getting sick in the first place like affordable fruits and vegetables, places to exercise, education on nutrition, smoking cessation classes, etc. But giving access to a healthy life doesn’t ensure that people will take advantage of it.

We have a mentality in this country that health comes from the pharmacy. We can eat fast food, be inactive, smoke and drink excessively and all we have to do when we get sick is see a doctor and take a pill. Some of the most serious diseases of our generation, like cardiovascular disease and diabetes, can be avoided by exercise and diet. Even many cancers can be avoided. Yet, it seems to take too much sacrifice and time to shop, cook a healthy meal, go for a walk and encourage our family and friends to do the same.

If there was one message from Obama this morning, it was that the sad state of our country is our “collective” fault and we all have to be a part of the solution. With respect to health care, this begins by all of us taking responsibility for our health. We need to treat our bodies with care, feed them well, move them, give them sunshine and pure water and give them sufficient rest. If we all make a commitment today to do that, we will be helping President Obama improve the health of this nation. Continuing a lifestyle that promotes illness would choke any plans for universal health care.

I hope I can help you with this commitment with the nutritional information and recipes that I will continue to share. Let’s all celebrate this new day not only with hope for a better country but also with that of improving our own personal health and well being.

Happy Inauguration Day!

Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Soup - Slimming Down With Soups!

I love everything about soup. I love cooking them, I love eating them, I love creating them. They are a great way to fill up without many calories (at least the way I make them). They are also a great way to work in all those wonderful vegetables that we are supposed to eat every day. If you have a garden, they are a great way to use up those bumper crops.

If you have a cup or even a bowl of soup with lunch or dinner, it will prevent you from over-eating the main course while providing added nutrition.

Here’s a tasty and healthy recipe that I love serving to my guests. Most creamy cauliflower soups have butter, cream and cheese – not very healthful or low calorie. This version gets its creamy texture from a few added potatoes. With only 123 calories per serving, it provides almost 6 grams of fiber.

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Vegan Creamy Cauliflower soup 
[makes 6 servings] 
2 t olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium inner stalks of celery
2 ½ cups of Yukon gold potatoes, diced
1 large head of cauliflower 
½ to 1 teaspoon of salt, (more or less to taste)
¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, (more or less to taste) 
6 cups of vegetable stock
¼ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup of mushrooms (white or something exotic)

In a medium stockpot, heat olive oil and cook the onions and celery for several minutes. 
Stir in the potato, cauliflower, salt, pepper and stock and bring to a boil. 
Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. 
Processing in batches, put the mixture in a blender until smooth. 
Return to pot, add mushrooms, and cook until they soften.
Stir in the lemon juice. Adjust salt and pepper if needed and serve.

Per serving: 123 calories, 1.8g fat, .2g saturated fat, 5 g protein, 25.2 g carbohydrates and 5.8 g fiber.

Losing Weight—It’s Just Math!

Loosing weight is a multi-billion dollar industry but it’s not as complicated as you may think. To understand what you need to do to accomplish this requires some basic math. It’s simple.

• There are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat

• To loose a pound of fat, you must either burn an extra 3,500 calories or eat 3,500 calories less that you normally do

There. That’s it! Let me give you an example of how to do it. Look at your food journal (item # 10 in my “Top 10 things you can do to improve your diet in 2009”). Say you drink two cans of cola a day. Each 12 oz can contains 155 calories so two mounts up to 310 calories. If you stopped drinking soda and, instead, had a glass of water or a glass of ice tea sweetened with stevia, you would loose a pound in a little over 11 days. In a year, you would loose 32 pounds just from making this one change in your diet.

The other part of the equation is burning more energy. Every time you walk a mile, it burns 100 calories. That’s about a 15 to 20 minute walk. So if you added walking 2 miles a day in addition to your cutting out the 2 cans of cola, you are now saving more than 500 calories a day. This would allow you to loose 1 pound a week!

January 1

The top 10 things you can do to improve your diet in 2009!

I always like to start off my year by thinking of ways to improve my diet. Are you, like so many, trying to loose weight? Well, this year I’d like you to just concentrate on eating well and getting healthy. If you do that, the weight will come off, you’ll feel better and you won’t have the anxiety of “being on a diet”.

Here are 10 things to think about. I will be expanding many of these ideas in the future along with sample recipes.

1. Eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables every day. Lots of them! The more colorful the better. As you look at your plate, it should look like a beautiful painting.

2. Eat at least 25% of these fruits and vegetables RAW. I’ll be talking a great deal more about raw food diets but for now, I’d just like you to start eating more of your diet in its raw state.

3. Buy organic fruits and vegetables when possible. They are more nutritious and of course, less toxic. You get enough toxins in your body from the environment, you don’t need to eat them. Now I will admit, sometimes organic can cost way too much. I drew the line last week when they wanted $3 for a single cucumber. But if possible, buy local, unsprayed produce.

4. Don’t eat fried foods. First of all, if you are trying to loose weight, this is a great source of calories. Secondly, NOTHING GOOD happens when oil is heated. It’s just a good practice to avoid foods that are fried.

5. Don’t eat white, processed food. These are also known as refined carbohydrates. White bread or pasta, white rice and sugar are a few examples of refined carbohydrates. Select whole grain bread, pasta and brown rice. Honey, unprocessed Sucanat is better than sugar but better yet, use the herb, stevia. It has finally been approved by the FDA, it has zero calories and it is a natural herb.

6. Eat essential fatty acids. Not all fat is bad. These fats are essential for good health and you can get these from nuts, seeds, fish and oils, to name a few sources. For a low calorie, delicious, healthy dose of these essential fatty acids, be on the lookout for my famous “chia seed pudding”!

7. Eat enough protein but not too much (please read “The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II). Avoid red meat and processed meats. Good sources of protein include beans, tofu, fish, organic free range eggs and poultry and many vegetables. Many Americans eat far too much protein. A diet with 10% protein is sufficient.

8. Get sufficient vitamin D. More and more data has shown the benefits of this vitamin. Besides helping the body build strong bones, it may also help control weigh gain, ward off diabetes and even have a role in cancer prevention. Although the RDA is 400 IU, many now suggest 1,000 IU per day. Good sources of this vitamin include cod liver oil, herring, and salmon. Unfortunately, there are no adequate plant sources for this vitamin, but fortified soy and rice milks, as well as fortified breakfast cereals do contain this vitamin. Getting 15 minutes of sunshine per day is also a good way to get sufficient vitamin D.

9. NEVER eat foods that contain High Fructose Corn Syrup or Trans fats. These are found in many foods so please read labels and avoid these unhealthy substances.

10. Keep a food journal. When I was pregnant with my son, 38 years ago, I discovered that if I wrote down what I ate, I didn’t over eat. Besides helping you keep your weight in check, it also helps discover food allergies, especially if you record how the foods make your feel.
You can’t start the New Year without a black eye pea recipe. It’s a tradition I picked up while living in Texas during my college years. Eating black eyed peas on new years day is supposed to give you good luck for the year. You’re also supposed to leave 3 peas on your plate (I’m not sure who told me that part but I’ve been doing it for decades now and it seems to work!)


Black-Eyed Pea Salad
2 cups of dried black-eyed peas
1 small avocado, diced
1 cup corn (fresh or frozen and thawed)
1 diced red pepper
2 T red onion, finely chopped
½ cup of cilantro, chopped
a dressing of 3 T of lime juice and 1 T of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Sort through the peas, removing rocks and dirt. Rinse well. Boil the black-eyed peas in 2 quarts of water for 20 to 25 minutes. Drain and cool.

Mix peas with the avocado, corn, red pepper, onion and cilantro and dress in the lime/olive oil dressing. Salt and pepper to taste.

Black-eyed peas are an excellent source of protein and fiber. Red peppers are full of beta-carotene and vitamin C.

Foods For Long Life

I spent three decades working in high tech, the last decade as a Silicon Valley CEO so I am acutely aware of how an invention can change people’s lives forever. For example, the internet paved the way for ecommerce which allows many of us to do much of our shopping without ever leaving our homes. Wireless technology allows us to stay in constant communication with our friends or business associates and is driving the once omnipresent “phone booth” to become an unfamiliar prop in old movies. Inventions in biotech have produced a myriad of new drugs that attempt to “control” many of the illnesses we face today. We all await the next “big thing.” But could this next “big thing” be something so simple that it has been in front of our eyes since the beginning of time?

One of the biggest challenge in this country today is our declining health. And as new, innovative technologies and drugs emerge, the 2007 Census Bureau shows the United States ranking 42nd in longevity when compared to other countries in the world. With the billions of dollars spent in the U.S. on healthcare, Andorra, a small country of 72 thousand people in the Pyrenees mountains, enjoys the longest lifespan of 83.4 years while a child born in the U.S. in 2004 will live an average of only 77.9 years.
This should be no surprise as the obesity rate or those with a Body Mass Index greater than 30, has now hit 34%. The number of overweight people, or those with a Body Mass Index between 25 and 30, is 32.7%. With two thirds of Americans overweight, we clearly have an issue with the food Americans are eating.

As we struggle to improve how we treat the illnesses that we have come to expect in our lives, such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and arthritis, to name a few, we hear too little about how to prevent these degenerative disorders in the first place. It turns out to be simple. Prevention and even the cure to all of these diseases is possible. It’s the next “big thing”. It’s food. Good, fresh, unprocessed, plant-based, organic food. Food that will heal the body, warm the soul and extend your life.

There’s a quiet revolution happening throughout the world right now by people who have discovered this secret to health and well being. They are meeting across the country in pot-lucks, food cooperatives, vegetable garden clubs and health food restaurants or they are found in their homes happily juicing, sprouting and creating delicious meals made from fresh, unprocessed foods.

Health and nutrition has always been my life passion and nutritional gourmet cooking has been my hobby for many years. I would take the most wonderful recipes and figure out a way to make them healthy. For years I have been spending nights and weekends pursuing my doctorate in holistic nutrition in order to learn even more about healthy eating. In 2007, I received my PhD and to follow my passion for nutrition and health, I left the high tech industry to continue my nutrition research. In April, 2008, my husband and I moved from Silicon Valley and bought a house and a few acres of land in Sebastopol, California where we can grow our own organic food and create more healthy recipes to share with you.

FoodsForLongLife.com is a blog dedicated to sharing information on things everyone can do to improve their health and the health of their family. I will show you how to create affordable, healthy, home cooked meals while sharing helpful, easy-to-understand, nutritional information. My goal is to provide information to the world on improving their health and achieving longevity by the simple task of eating.

Dr. Joanne L. Mumola Williams