7 Cooking Secrets

Frittata

2012-06-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

Frittata

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
½	CUP CHOPPED ONIONS
¼	CUP DICED PEPPER (green, red, or yellow)
1	CLOVE GARLIC, minced
1	SMALL ZUCCHINI
1	CUP FIRM TOFU (7-8 ounces)
¼	CUP WATER (omit if soft tofu is used)
½	TEASPOON SALT or BUTTER-FLAVOURED SALT
1	TEASPOON FOOD YEAST FLAKES
1	TEASPOON Bragg Liquid Aminos
1	TABLESPOON CORNSTARCH
1	TABLESPOON FINE CORNMEAL or CORN FLOUR

1. Simmer onions, peppers, garlic in 2 tablespoons of water for 5 minutes. Add sliced zucchini and cook 3 more minutes. Remove from heat. Place a shallow, non-stick 8-inch skillet (or frittata pan) on the burner at medium low heat to preheat.

2. Place tofu and remaining ingredients in blender and blend – not necessarily smooth but thick.

3. Stir blended tofu into the onion mixture and pour into the preheated skillet, smoothing the surface. Cook for 15 minutes or until the frittata is almost set. Cover handle with foil or slip frittata onto a cookie sheet and place under broiler for about 2 minutes or until the top is set and golden. Allow the frittata to stand for 5 minutes before cutting into wedges for serving.

MAKES 1 8-INCH FRITTATA

Dried Fruit Sauce

2012-06-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

Dried Fruit Sauce

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
1	APPLE, diced small
1	CUP CRUSHED PINEAPPLE
½	CUP ORANGE JUICE (non concentrated)
¼	CUP PURE MAPLE SYRUP or HONEY, optional
1	TEASPOON VANILLA
½	TEASPOON COCONUT EXTRACT
¼	TEASPOON SALT
1	CUP WATER
½	CUP DRIED APRICOTS, diced
½	CUP DRIES PRUNES, diced
¼	CUP DRIED CHERRIES, optional
1	TABLESPOON CORNSTARCH DISSOLVED IN ¼ CUP WATER

1. Place all ingredients except dissolved cornstarch in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in dissolved cornstarch to thicken as desired. (Omit the cornstarch if the sauce is as thick as you like without it).

2. Serve over Scottish oat Cakes or Whole Wheat Toast.

TIP: Great for camping trips. Dried fruit (including apple) can be diced and placed in a plastic bag. Even omit sweeteners – the simple flavours of the dried fruits stewed together will be enjoyed by all.

PRESERVING TIP: This sauce may be preserved by hot-pack canning. Simply place jars in a microwave with 1 inch of water in each jar for 10 minutes. Boil the metal lid seals in a small pan of water for 1 minute. Empty the water out of the jars and pour the boiling sauce into the jars. Screw on the lids right away let to cool and seal.

 MAKES 1 QUART 

Scottish Oat Cakes

2012-06-05T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is a delicious make-ahead treat, kids love it, mature, old everyone whoever tastes it loves it and wants more and more. Enjoy with your family and friends, especially neighbours, because once they smell they will come without the invitation.

Scottish Oat Cakes

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
¼	CUP WHOLE WHEAT PASTRY FLOUR
1	CUP BRAZIL NUTS (or walnuts)
1	CUP QUICK OATS
1	TEASPOON SALT
¼	CUP HONEY, WARMED LITTLE

1. Place flour and nuts in a food processor and whiz for 1 minute or until nuts are as fine as the flour but not getting buttery or sticking to the sides. Pour into a mixing bowl and add oats and salt. Stir in warmed honey until a ball of dough forms, adding a little water if needed. Mixture should stick together, but not be so wet that it sticks to your hands.

2. Divide into about 12 walnut-sized balls and place on two non-stick cookie sheets. Poll thin with a rolling-pin.

If the pan sides are deep, turn it upside down and make your cakes on the bottom in order to roll the cakes flat with a rolling pin. Cover them with plastic wrap to keep the roller from sticking.

3. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350˚F. Watch carefully – they burn easily!

4. Serve with thickened fruit topping such as blueberry, cherry, or peach. Add nut or soy milk if desired.

 MAKES 1 DOZENS 

Maple Syrup Sauce

2012-06-04T17:32:00.000-07:00

Maple Syrup Sauce

1. Dissolve 1 tablespoon cornstarch in ¼ cup water.

2. Dilute 1 cup pure maple syrup with 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and slowly stir in the dissolved cornstarch. Serve over crepes, waffles, or pancakes.

MAKES 2 CUPS

Whole Wheat Pancakes

2012-06-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

Whole Wheat Pancakes

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
2	CUPS WHOLE WHEAT PASTRY FLOUR
1	TEASPOON SALT
2	CUPS SOY MILK OR NUT MILK
2	TABLESPOONS HONEY
2	TABLESPOON Ener-G Baking Powder (or 1 tablespoon regular baking powder)

1. Blend all ingredients together in a blender or with a wire whip.

2. Pour onto hot griddle, being careful not to stir down the bubbles (no bubbles with regular baking powder). Bake until golden brown on each side.

Variation: Add 1 mashed banana or 1 cup blueberries. Other flours may be used instead of whole wheat, such as rice, barley, corn, or oat flour.

MAKES 8-10 PANCAKES

Whole Grain Cereal

2012-06-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

This cereal is wholesome and hearty – just whole grains. It is quick and simple to make overnight in a small Crock-Pot. Make it special by adding dates and raisins. Serve with dry-roasted peanuts for extra crunch. Make ahead and freeze in smaller amounts for handy use in the morning

Whole Grain Cereal

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
½	CUP WHOLE RYE OR WHEAT
½	CUP BROWN RICE, BARLEY, MILLET, OR MIZZED WHOLE RICE
3	CUPS BOILING WATER
½	TEASPOON SALT
1	CUP RAISINS AND CHOPPED DATES, optional

Crock-Pot method: Place all the grains in a Crock-Pot and add the boiling water and salt. Let cook 8 hours and serve.

Hint: if you like the cereal less creamy or starchy, you can wait to add the rice, barley, or millet about 1½ hours before serving. I like to use rye and put it in the Crock-Pot at bedtime. Since I am an early riser, I wait to add the rice or softer grains when I get up, about 1½ hours before breakfast. Then about 15 minutes before breakfast I add the raisins and dates. Good served with sliced bananas, apples, pears, or peaches.

Stove Top Method: Place 3 cups water in a kettle along with rye or wheat and salt. Simmer for 1 hour. Then add the rice or softer grain and continue cooking until water is gone – about 45 minutes. Just before it has finished cooking, add the raisins and dates if desired.

MAKES 3-4 SERVINGS FOR HUNGRY & HEALTHY ADULTS

Simple French Crepes

2012-05-31T13:45:00.000-07:00

Simple French Crepes

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
1½	CUPS WATER
¼	CUP RAW CASHEW NUTS (may use 1½ cups soy milk instead of water and cashew nuts
½	CUPS QUICK OATS
½	CUP WHOLE WHEAT OR BROWN RICE FLOUR
1	TABLESPOON APPLE JUUICE CONCENTRATE or 1½ TABLESPOON HONEY
½	TEASPOON SALT
½	CUP TOFU, optional (makes the crepes richer and more tender

1. Blend ingredients together about 1 minute.

2. Lift preheated non-stick skillet from burner and pour ¼ cup portion, tipping in a circular motion so crepe flows large and thin. Use medium-high temperature until dry on top (about 1 minute), then loosen gently with spatula and turn, cooking the other side for about 30 seconds. Stack finished crepes on a flat plate and cover with a cloth to keep warm.

You make these ahead and refrigerate, wrapping a plate of stacked crepes in a plastic bag. Warm up in microwave before serving.

Serving Tip: Place a thin layer of sugarless jam on crepe and then spread across in the middle a spoonful of Whipped Topping. Roll up and drizzle with Maple Syrup Sauce if desired.

MAKES 12 CREPES

Simple French Toast

2012-05-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

“Though eggs have a tradition in cooking and baking, we have not used them in our recipes. You can make light muffins, pancakes, and waffles and even crepes without them! You might notice a slight difference in taste and texture, but most of our gusts didn`t miss them at all. So just to round out our breakfast section, we include some delicious replacements for egg and hash brown fans without the usual cholesterol or grease.”

David McDowell.

Simple French Toast

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
1	CUP ORANGE JUICE (not concentrated)
½	CUP FLOUR (may use whole wheat, but white flour will give a nicer appearance)
6 or 7	SLICE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

1. Place orange juice and flour in a bowl and stir briskly with a wire whip.

2. Dip bread, one slice at a time, and place in a preheated non-stick skillet (medium heat). Gently press the bread with a spatula so that all of it contacts the griddle. This will help it to brown evenly. Turn over after 1-2 minutes.

Serving Tip: Use date-nut or raisin bread and serve with almond butter, topped with apricot or pear sauce. Or spread French toast with peanut butter and top with hot applesauce or a bit of Maple Syrup.

SERVES 2-3 HUNGRY ADULTS

Five Loaves Rice Cream

2012-05-30T13:43:00.004-07:00

We always served this recipe in our soft-serve machine. It can be made in a blender, but is easiest to make in the kind of ice-cream maker that has a container you keep in the freezer. (Cuisine-art makes a good one.) When ready to use, simply mount the freezer container on the motor, turn on, and pour in the mix. In 20 minutes you have soft ice cream ready to serve.

Five Loaves Rice Cream

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
¾	CUP CASHEW NUTS
½	CUP COOKED BRON RICE *
½	CUP PITTED DATES
½	CUP FRUIT JUICE SWEETNER OR HONEY
½	TEASPOON SALT
1	TEASPOON VANILLA
½	TEASPOON GUAR GUM OR XANTHAN GUM (OPTIONAL)
2	CUPS WATER
1	TRAY ICE CUBES (optional)

* If desired, you may omit the rice and increase nuts to 1 cup cashew nuts.

1. Blend all the ingredients (except ice cubes) in a blender until very smooth (may take up to 2 minutes). There should be no grittiness when a drop of mixture is felt between your thumb and finger.

2. Add ice cubes and blend smooth (speed chilling time). Add more water as needed to make 5 cups total mix.

3. Pour into ice-cream maker and freeze according to its directions. )or pour into a shallow pan and freeze. When ready to use, thaw slightly until just soft enough to cut into squares. Place in a blender with enough soy milk or water to blend into the consistency of soft ice cream).

4. Spoon into containers as soon as the mix is done (if the ice cream is left in an ice-cream maker, some will freeze to the container and become hard). Store in freezer until ready to use.

Hint: This ice-cream recipe will harden more in the freezer than store-bought high-fat brands. To serve slightly in the microwave.

 MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS 

Fruit Sauce

2012-05-30T13:42:00.001-07:00

“Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator. These foods, prepared in as simple and natural a manner as possible, are the most healthful and nourishing. They impart a strength, a power of endurance, and a vigor of intellect that are not afforded by a more complex and stimulating diet.”

E.G. White, The Ministry of Healing.

Fruit Sauce

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
4	CUPS DICED FRESH OR FROZEN FRUIT (blueberries, blackberries, apricots, peaches, cherries, apples, or pears are good)
12	OUNCE CAN FROZEN CONCENTRATED APPLE OR WHITE GRAPE JUICE
1	CUP WATER
3	TABLESPOONS POTATO STARCH OR ¼ CUP CLEAR JEL DISSOLVED IN ½ CUP WATER (½ cup cornstarch maybe used instead)

1. Place fruit, juice and water in a saucepan. Place over high heat until mixture begins to boil.

With apples, turn down heat and simmer until apples are soft (5-10 minutes).

2. Remove from heat and stir in dissolved starch. Return to heat and stir until it just begins to boil and becomes thick.

Hint: Add the dissolved starch slowly and stir briskly to prevent lumps from forming. As you add and stir, the sauce will immediately thicken. Stop adding starch when the mixture reaches the desired consistency. Some tart fruits may need more sweetening. This may be done by adding a little homey or other sweetener of choice.

MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS

Waffles & Fruit Sauce

2012-05-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

We have tried many combinations of waffle ingredients and made thousands of waffles. When we learned about the antioxidant benefits of flaxseed, we tried it in waffles. Our daughter developed this recipe, which seems to have the right combination of ingredients. It surpasses anything we have tried yet. We were surprised to discover that the flax works like leavening, causing the batter to bubble up and fill all the depressions in the waffle iron.

Light and Tender Waffles

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
2	CUPS WATER
1	TABLESPOON CONCENTRATED APPLE JUICE*
1	CUP QUICK OATS
¼	CUP MILLET OR CORNMEAL
¼	CUP FLAXSEED
¼	CUP RAW CASHEW NUTS
2	TABLESPOONS CORNSTARCH, optional (helps waffle keep its shape when cool)
½	TEASPOON SALT

* Makes waffle brown; 1 date or ½ tablespoon of raisins may be used instead.

1. Preheat waffle iron.

If your iron is old and worn, you probably have to use plenty of non-stick spray. The new waffle irons are not experience, and a new Teflon surfaces stays nice long time if you never grease or wash it. The non-stick sprays leave a residue that builds up, making the waffled stick. So don’t spray, and get a nicer-appearing waffle as well!

2. Blend all ingredients for 1 minute.

3. Pour mixture into preheat waffle iron and close the lid. Bake until steam stops rising and the waffle is golden brown and crisp.

Hint: We’ve found that the time to bake these waffles varies greatly with the particular waffle iron-from 4 to 12 minutes. So follow the steam rule above, and you won’t have a sticky mess! Once you know how long your iron takes, it’s simples to use a timer than watch the steam.

4. Remove to a cooling rack and serve.

Don’t stack waffles when they’re hot, as they’ll become soggy and compressed. Use a toaster to add crispiness and reheat leftovers.

 MAKES 1½ - 2 LARGE WAFFLES (6-8 squares) WORKS GOOD IN BELGIAN WAFFLE IRONS, TOO 

Muesli for One

2012-05-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

Muesli for One

Here’s a delicious one-person recipe for that favorite Scandinavian breakfast. Multiply according to the number served, but keep in mind that this makes a very generous serving – about 2 cups.

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
½	CUP OLD FASHIONED OATS
¼	CUP DICED DRIED FRUIT (apricots, dates, and dried cranberries are good together)
1	CUP SOY MILK (or pina colada juice with a few slices of banana blended in)
½	CUP DICED FRESH APPLE
1	TABLESPOON CHOPPED NUTS
	PINCH OF ORANGE ZEST, optional

1. Place oats in a dry pan over medium-heat and stir until just beginning to lightly brown.

2. Pour toasted oats into a bowl and add dried fruit and milk (or juice). Let sit overnight in refrigerator.

3. In the morning, add as desired: diced apple, chopped nuts, sliced bananas or peaches, grapes, berries, or other fruits. Add more milk or juice if desired. Serve cold or at room temperature.

 MAKES 2 CUPS 

Creamy Rice Cereal

2012-05-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

Creamy Rice Cereal

This recipe became a favorite of ours when we lived in the Caribbean. Another way the islanders make their “porridge” is by preparing a thin cornmeal mush containing coconut milk.

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
1	CUP COCONUT MILK OR SOY MILK
1	BANANA
1	CUP PINEAPPLE JUICE
½	TEASPOON COCONUT EXTRACT
4	CUPS COOKED RICE
½	CUP CRUSHED PINEAPPLE AND RAISINS MIXED

1. Blend together the coconut or soy milk, banana, juice, and coconut extract.

2. Place rice in a casserole dish that has been lightly coated with oil, and fold in the crushed pineapple and raisins. Stir in the blended milk and juice.

3. Bake at 350˚F about 20 minutes until hot enough to serve, or about 8 minutes in the microwave.

MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS

RECIPE’s Finally!

2012-05-24T17:10:00.002-07:00

Maple Nut Granola

Most granola at the market tastes like oatmeal cookies! This delicious recipe, without refined fat, will be a real hit if you carefully follow the directions. With experience, it will be oven-ready in 15 minutes.

INGREDIENTS & QUANTITY
1	CUP WATER
½	CUP HONEY
1	TABLESPOON MOLASSES, optional
1	TABLESPOON MAPLE FLAVORING
1	TEASPOON SALT
2	CUPS PITTED DATES
1	CUP WALNUTS, BRAZIL NUTS, PEANUTS OR ALMONDS
13	CUPS OLD-FASHINED OATS (42-OUNCE CARTON QUAKER OATS)
1-2	CUPS QUICK OATS, if needed
½	CUP SHREDDEDM UNSWEETENED COCONUT, optional
1-2	CUPS COARSELY CHOPPED WALNUTS, PECANS, ALMONDS, OR PEANUTS

1. Put water, honey, flavorings, dates, and 1 cup nuts in blender. Blend for about 1
minute until smooth.

This becomes quite thick, and you may need to help it blend by carefully arriving from the top with a rubber spatula while it blends.

2. Place oats and remaining ingredients (except quick oats) in a large mixing bowl. Add blended mix to the oats and gently mix together with your hands.

Keep tossing until all the oats look moist and there are no dry, whitish-colored oat flakes in the mix. Avoid the temptation to squeeze or knead the mix with your hands. You want to retain the shape of the oat flakes without pulverizing them. Plastic food-handling gloves are a great help.

3. If the mix is too wet, the finished granola will not be tender. If it is sticking to your hands or feels sticky, add the extra quick oats and work them into the mix.

If you are using gloves, it will be the right consistency when it hardly sticks at all. I almost always needs the extra oatmeal along with the 42-ounce carton of oats, but ingredients can vary, and experience will help you get the right balance of moisture every time. If your finished granola is hard and rough, you get it too wet. It is just right when there are some clumps that break apart easily, but it is not all powdery and dry.

4. Place mixture in two large cake pans or sheet pans that have sides, taking care not to pack or pat it down tightly. Keep it light and airy.

5. Place pans in over at 175˚F for about 8 hours – no need to stir if it is baked slowly, if the temperature is too high, it will become dark brown or burned on top and uncooked part dries out, it will be tough and hard. Longer, slower cooking will result in an even, golden-brown product.

The right temperature is crucial, so err on the low side or check it with an oven thermometer, since ovens vary greatly. A convention oven will usually give a more tender result.

MAKES ABOUT 24 CUPS

The Seven Secrets To Delightful Food

2012-05-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

In order to make plant based foods tasteful and attractive, we have discovered seven basic areas of food preparation and some simple skills will make all the difference. Thus the recipe section in 7 Cooking Secrets is the practical application of seven basic principles – simple secrets of making scrumptious meals that make you forget you’re eating healthy!

1. Use Whole Grains in Place of Refined, and Still Enjoy Your Food.

2. Replace Butter, Oil, and Eggs in Baking Without Sacrificing Tenderness and Taste.

3. Make White or Cheese Sauce to Use in Place of Milk and Cheese, and Yet Enjoy Creamy, Delicious Entrées and Soups.

4. Replace Meat, and Still be Able to Adapt Your Favorite Recipes With Healthful Alternatives.

5. Fry or Sautèe Without Oil, Eliminating a Significant Source of Damaging fat in Your Food.

6. Make a Good Spread or Dressing for Bread and Salad, After All, It’s What We Put on the Bread, Potatoes, or Salad That Makes Them Fattening.

7. Cut Down on Refined Sugar.

As you put these basic skills into practice, you will see that these recipes are not so new and strange after all. They are just new variations of an old familiar theme. Something new and unfamiliar seems hard at first, but after the skill has been tried and learned, you realize how very simple it really is! If you will take the time to become familiar with these few basic techniques, you will have the secret to success.

Prevent or Even Reverse Diabetes (Part 5)

2012-05-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

In many ways it would be better to use insulin injections from the beginning and avoid the side effects of the oral medications. In fact, many of the medications used simply force the Pancreas to produce even more insulin-----so the result would be the same if one took injections and at the same time avoided side effects! However there are now additional classes of oral medications that work in other ways than chemically forcing the pancreas to produce more insulin. They cooperate with the body’s effort to make more sugar movers. But they are expensive and still have side effects.

How much better to influence the body to make sugar movers naturally, rather than continuing to increase blood level of insulin! And that is the effect of exercise. Using our muscles has the effect of actually changing our genes (DNA) or the chemical controlling what the DNA does. The result is the increasing production of sugar movers.

So, since the problem is the lack of sugar movers and since the only way to increase those naturally is to exercise----walk, walk, and use only plant sources of food. Even if you don’t get completely well (normal sugar without medication), you will be so close to being well that likely a very small amount of medication will keep your sugar at safe level!

It is critical that with type 2 diabetes who gets well on the plan recommended here must stay with it religiously. They are not cured but are, if you will, in remission. Returning to the old lifestyle will likely plunge them into diabetes again. (Dont blame the physicians who look on this plan with some concern. They are the ones who have to struggle to get the diabetic back under control again when he/she falls back into the old ways---- without realizing their sugar was again out of control and wreaking havoc in their bodies).

Keep in mind the effort is takes to get well works completely for only about 40 percent of diabetics, although the other 60 percent do extremely well. And the 40 percent must stay with the plan to stay well. If they become ill enough to be in the hospital, even while following the plan as well as they can while in bed, they will regress to needing diabetic medication again. Most of these can be well again once they are out of the hospital and back on the plan, but this illustrates how fragile a former diabetics state is.

Prevent or Even Reverse Diabetes (Part 4)

2012-05-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Let’s explore a basic reason that exercise is so critical. Approximately 10 years before a person is diagnosed with diabetes the amount of insulin in the blood begins to rise. The body is doing this in order to force the increasing blood sugar levels from the blood into the cells – thus lowering or controlling blood sugar. This increase in the amount of insulin needed to “control” the blood sugar is called insulin resistance. The problem isn’t exactly that the body is resisting insulin. Rather the problem is that the cells are making less and less of a substance needed to move sugar from the outside of the cell to the inside. These little sugar movers have a large name, which isn’t at all important to understanding the issue. The point is that the insulin receptor on the cell is activated by insulin to send a message to the DNA to make these sugar movers – and right here is the problem. The message is sent, but it receives an increasingly smaller response – over the years, less and less of the sugar movers are produced. The body’s reaction is to make more insulin to send more messages, which helps in a degree but eventually fails to control the sugar level adequately. Now the body has very high levels of insulin, but the messages to make sugar movers are so poorly heeded that the sugar level in the bloodstream rises and person becomes diabetic.

Diabetics have heard that they can take oral medication and help the situation. Although physicians have attempted to lower Alc scores 6.0 percent with medication, the medical community has recently acknowledged that this is not achievable in most patients, so a goal of 7.0 percent is now seen as a reasonable target. Reasonable not because that’s safe for the diabetic (it isn’t), but because that’s about the best we can do with medication.

In reality, it would be better to use insulin, because that is a substance natural to the body. But the diabetic has somehow gotten the idea that when you finally go on needle, death is near. But in reality, it isn’t the needle or insulin that brings one closer to the end---it’s simply the years of tissue damage from elevated sugar levels. And since most diabetics don’t want to give themselves injections, physicians use oral medication to delay the day of the needle.

Prevent or Even Reverse Diabetes (Part 3)

2012-05-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

Fiber is defined as that portion of the food that is indigestible. It is found in plants in two broad categories – soluble and insoluble. The soluble fiber soaks up moisture and makes a kind of gelatinous slurry (a little bit like Jell-O) in the small intestine. This slows the movement of nutrients so that the meal is “delivered” to the bloodstream in five to six hours rather than in a much shorter time. This long-lasting, smooth delivery of nutrients (including sugar) allows the body to control blood sugar levels. If refined carbs are in our food, there are blood sugar spikes followed by dramatic lows as the body struggles to control the unexpected surges of nutrient delivery.

Imagine a group of people standing in a swimming pool filled with shoulder-deep molasses. Let’s say they are instructed to get out of the pool as fast as possible. They struggle through the thick goo to the pool edge and climb out. Obviously it would take much longer to get out than it the pool had water in it. Let’s let the pool represent the small intestine and the people represent the nutrients that are being sorbed into the bloodstream (leaving the pool). The fiber turns the water in pool into molasses. A refined diet would result in a more “waterlike” environment in the small intestines! A slower delivery of nutrients to the bloodstream is critical for good health.

Another benefit from fiber, though not such an immediate issue in diabetes, is that the insoluble fiber binds itself to the bile our bodies make (almost pure cholesterol) and other forms of cholesterol that came from our diet. These “hooked-together” molecules of cholesterol and fiber are too large to be absorbed into the bloodstream and so are excreted – which means this bound cholesterol is not absorbed into the blood. The obvious effect is a lowering of our (blood serum) cholesterol.

The physicians we work with in the Reversing Diabetes program believe that approximately 65 to 70 percent of a diabetic’s recovery is from exercise. They have found that diabetics aren’t likely to get well unless they exercise at a level equivalent to walking four miles each day.

Prevent or Even Reverse Diabetes (Part 2)

2012-05-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a physician may advise a patient to eat many smaller meals each day with less carbohydrate and more protein – almost the exact opposite of what we are proposing here. The physicians make these suggestions largely because patients usually won’t do what is best. Carbohydrate is the preferred food for the trillion cells in your body. The reason a physician suggests a cutback is that Americans eat mostly refined carbohydrates.

The fad for “low-carb” regimens is highly flawed. Rather than helping us eat unrefined carbs, which is just what our body needs, it recommends that we increase fat protein and reduce carbs. This is hard on our kidneys and produces high levels of toxins in the blood. In fact, before the most well known of the low-carb programs we recently revised, the user had to test the urine several times each day for ketones (organic byproducts from burning fat). Since the high-protein diet could cause damage and even death from ketoacidosis, the ketone level had to be carefully monitored.

Plant foods are low in fat and protein and high in carbs, except four categories that are high in fat (and therefore high in calories) – olives, avocados, nuts, and seeds. We need to eat these more sparingly. A good handful each day would be reasonable goal. It has been shown in recent years that nuts (of all kinds) lower the incidence of heart disease.

Which brings us to the second reason physicians sometimes advise many small high-protein, high-fat, low-carb meals for the diabetic. If we use refined carbohydrate without the fiber that is naturally in the plant foods, our blood sugar rises quickly to high levels following a meal. Since we either won`t or don’t know how to prepare our foods with unrefined carbohydrates, which would lower blood sugar, the physician throws up his or her hands and says, “Well, use a low-carb plan,” even though it’s not really a solution. This plan may help in a small degree to keep sugar levels from soaring, but it’s truly a band-aid approach.

Don’t miss this all-important point: unrefined plant foods have fiber-and in just the right proportions. Animal PRODUCTS HAVE ZERO FIBER – IN OTHER WORDS, ALL MEAT (INCLUDING FISH, CHICKEN, AND SEAFOOD) and other animal products, such as milk, eggs, and cheese, have absolutely no fiber at all! Around the world, cultures that use animal products and refined plant products and that include too many calories and too little exercise (the standard of WESTERN LIFESTYLE) have increasingly high levels of diabetes.

Prevent or Even Reverse Diabetes (Part 1)

2012-05-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

The lifestyle of adequate exercise and healthier foods presented in the previous section will prevent almost everyone from getting type-2 diabetes. The same plan will reduce cholesterol in the blood and lower the risk of coronary artery disease. It will help 40 percent or more of those with diabetes to recover - they can have normal blood sugar and significantly reverse some of the damage diabetes has caused. If they follow the program carefully, the average time required to get well is three to six weeks, although some people respond in days. Nearly 90 percent of peripheral neuropathy disappears, and almost everyone finds relief from this often very painful condition within a few days. (Some have complete freedom from pain in just two days.)

How do I know? I’ve seen it happen at Weimer Institute, which is located near Sacramento, California. In order to reverse diabetes, we use the same plan as for losing weight: moderate daily activity and all food from unrefined plant products. (Be sure to read the previous section since we won’t repeat many of the same important points here.)

In the weight-control program we encourage participants to move judiciously but steadily. For diabetics the case is more urgent. If the hemoglobin A l c (also known as glycosylated hemoglobin) is above 6.0 percent, significant damage is taking place to virtually every tissue in the body. In fact, the medical community has concluded that it there is diabetes, then there is heart disease! So in order to halt the progressive damage, a diabetic needs to make these changes now! They must follow the plan religiously if they want to get well. Certainly there will be improvement if they make some changes, but to have normal sugar without medication requires strict adherence.

These changes are challenging for most people, but they can be done with reasonable effort and determination. We have followed this exercise and healthful-food plan ourselves for more than 30 years, and our health is great! And the food is really good. As in weight control, this plan calls for a reasonable amount of walking, two or three plant-bases meals each day (the first meal is the largest and lesser ones follow), and no snacking at all.

Don’t Starve To Lose Weight (PART 4)

2012-04-30T02:39:00.009-07:00

READ THE LABLE!

If the label says “wheat flour” it is refined, If it’s unrefined the label will say 100 percent whole wheat (or some other grain). Often both kinds of flours will be listed, and if that’s the case, don’t but it. Also, watch for added fat in various forms-lard, butter, margarine, vegetable oil, or partially hydrogenated oil- don’t but it! This will eliminate 97 out of 100 loaves of bread on the shelf at the store. If you want to control your weight, all your food needs to be unrefined!

Will you get hungry two hours after eating our low-fat recipes? No! Recently I was visiting with a physician who wanted a better understanding of this concept, and she said, “But fat is needed for satiety.” In other words, since fat slows digestion time it tends to keep us satisfied, keeps us from getting hungry too quickly! She was right. It is the Fat that makes us feel full. But there is another ingredients usually missing from processed foods that also provides satiety: fiber. Plant foods are all high in fiber. But the fiber is removed when processed into white bread or pasts, vegetable oil, and sugar. These are just the obvious examples.

Animal products don’t need to be processed or refined to lose fiber – they never had fiber, they never will! Don’t miss this incredible point: Animal products (meat, fish, chicken, eggs, and milk) have zero fiber. No wonder so many Americans are constipated. Of course, fiber has much more to offer besides regularity. It lowers cholesterol. It helps protect against diabetes. And it helps keep us from getting hungry too quickly so we don’t look for snacks.

The recipes in this blog are different – they don’t use animal products. The ingredients are from your garden or the produce department, tastefully presented with gravies, sauces, and dressings made from nuts. All the fiber is still there. When you eat your first meal from this blog, you will agree with the participants in our weight-loss programs. They were amazed to find that they could go five hours without even a snack – they just never felt hungry.

The Live it is not just for weight control. Cholesterol goes down, the cholesterol ratio is improved, and hypertension can be cured and controlled. There is a much decreased risk for a number of cancers. There is a dramatic decrease in diabetes incidence, with a virtual nonincidence of gout.

Finally, a word about the psychology of controlling weight. Through a complex interplay of one’s background and life experiences it’s possible to develop a true obsession to overeating. There are people who almost tear the doors off the cupboards to get food, stuffing themselves as fast as they can gulp it down, not even enjoying the food. This is the extreme end of the spectrum, but if you recognize something like this in yourself, you need more help than this blog can offer. See a physician and get help in finding professionals to guide you through recovery from a very complex problem.

Don’t Starve To Lose Weight (PART 3)

2012-04-28T02:38:00.002-07:00

THE LIVE IT

Start with delicious produce, grains, and nuts. Thoughtfully prepare them in your own kitchen. Then sit down and enjoy several helpings, guilt-free. Unrefined plant foods are naturally low in fat. That helps you to lose weight, because a low you up. A pound of fat has more than twice the calories of a pound of carbohydrate or protein. A meal from my blog might have half the calories of the meal you ate last night!

What did you eat last night? If you had a serving or two of vegetables and salad, good for you! But you may be struggling with extra weight because you’re eating refined foods: dressings, gravies, sauces, and entrèes. The term refined foods refer to the process of removing fiber nutrients from plant foods and usually increasing the amount of fat. There is another way to eat your entrèes, potatoes, fruit, and vegetables! You don’t have to eat then plain – you’ll learn about that in the recipes that I will start listing soon.

Refined foods can be blamed for most of the excess pounds people carry around. The culprits are oil, butter, and the high percentage of fat found in meat. Neva replaces oil in her recipes with nuts, olives, and coconut. Those foods give you all the moisture you need and make the food taste great, but because the refining process is left behind, you don’t get too many calories.

Obviously junk food is highly refined. A 200-calorie potato becomes a 1,000-calorie bag of chips. Chips are easy to eat, and even easier to store as fat. Other refined foods such as white bread, pasts and rice, are not as fattening but should be replaced with their whole-grain originals. Fewer calories are consumes, while the fiber and nutrients your body needs are restored.

Don’t Starve To Lose Weight (PART 2)

2012-04-26T02:35:00.000-07:00

EXERCISE

Every diet requires exercise to be effective. It not only burns calories, but arise the efficiency of your gigantic calorie burners, the basal metabolic rate (BMR). Every day the body needs a certain amount of calories just to operate, even if we don’t move a muscle all day. The basal metabolic rate is the calories burned to pump blood, breathe, run the brain, process food, keep the body warm, etc. The astonishing thing is that this BMR for most people is about 75 percent of their total calorie expenditure – close to 1,500 calories. You’d need to run 15 miles to burn 1,500 calories! Many people burn only an additional 300 calories for a whole day’s activities (the equivalent of walking three miles).

Here’s the catch: If you diet, your BMR, which is the giant calorie consumer, will decrease. It is as though the body says itself, “Food shortage! Conserve calories!” The body turns down the “furnace.” Exercise tricks the body into keeping the furnace going full-blast even on fewer calories. The food shortage is ignored when you exercise, and your body burns calories left and right.

Most people will need to walk three miles per day to make this work. Any form of exercise will do. Try to find something which you enjoy: play tennis, ride a bike, go swimming, or work in your garden. Just find out how long it takes you to walk three miles, and then exercise that long each day. And you don’t have to exercise vigorously. You can even divide up your three miles throughout the day and you will burn the same number of calories. You can even exercise leisurely. Whether you run or walk that mile, slow or fast, the same number of calories will be burned.

What’s more, for about a day after exercise (and if the exercise is vigorous, the effect is greater) the BMR is even higher, giving you added help in controlling calories. Amazingly a sedentary person (very little exercise) will tend to have a larger appetite than one who has been exercising regularly.

Don’t Starve To Lose Weight (PART 1)

2012-04-24T20:24:00.001-07:00

Lower Your Cholesterol Without Medication!

Prevent or Even Reverse Diabetes!

Drastically Lower your Risk of Heart Disease!

Are those preposterous claims? No, these claims are substantial in medical literature – here is how you can do it. Let’s begin with the issue of controlling weight.

Most Americans are overweight. In the past two decades this condition has increased to pandemic proportions: 60 to 80 percent of adults are overweight. Many are in the obese category. These extra pounds are making us more susceptible to a host of health problems from heart disease to diabetes to certain cancers, and much more.

Very few of us are please with the extra pounds we are carrying, although some of us have developed a jolly spirit in an attempt to relieve our private agony. Recently I worked with a woman who weighed nearly 500 pounds. As time went by she confided to me her innermost feelings: “When I go to an all-you-can-eat restaurant, people look at me and think, What are you doing in here, you big fat slob?” Those were the tragic words, not mine. Her negativity is a common thread among overweight people.

Solutions, of course, are offered everywhere. Friends offer unsolicited advice and advertises promise pills to suppress hunger and burn calories. These slick and convincing ads seldom reveals the research: less than 5 percent of Americans who dies keep the weight off long-term. Most of us know that from painful experience.

“But,” you ask, “how do I know your plan is not just another empty promise?” That’s fair question. You will need a certain degree of trust to accept our proposed eating plan, but it might help you to know that we have nothing to sell. It will cost you less than what you are spending right now on your Pantry. The approach is very simple: You essentially eat all you want and lose weight slowly and consistently – and keep it off as long as you stay with the plan.

“Wait a minute,” you say. “All the plans work if you stay with them!” True. Most dieters gain their weight back because they quit the diet. But there are three great differences with this plan. 1. You eat all you want. 2. No spending money on a “weight loss” product. 3. You don’t diet, you live it. This is a new life style – one so workable and energizing that you will never want the old one back. So what is this plan? Here it is in one simple sentence: Exercise moderately and eat only unrefined plan foods.

You’re probably wondering, Is that a life? Where will I get the energy to exercise? How can I turn down favorite foods while people all around me, some of them thin, enjoy the American diet? One key is to visualize success. See yourself buying new clothes, several sizes smaller. Imagine a life of looking and feeling great. That is a life!

Healthy Cuisine Your Family Will Love (Part 2)

2012-04-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

People are often concerned that if they quit using so many refined or prepared products, it will take more time in the kitchen-efficiency can make up for much of it! So I will include Efficiency Tips, the result of many years of experience in saving time.

The Ingredients Equivalents article gives general guidelines for substitution-a real plus if something is missing from your pantry. Another helpful article is Menus and Shopping Lists. Those articles will provide complete menus with shopping lists – enough for four weeks! This will help you get a running start on what to plan for the family and what to keep on your pantry shelf.

If you have children or grandchildren, you’ll appreciate Favorites for Children. These are recipes kids especially enjoy eating them into the kitchen to help you make the healthy and delicious dishes!

Finally, we make every effort to use only unrefined plant products. These are some exceptions mainly in the use of sweeteners and also in an effort to “reach out” to family members who may not be ready to follow the very best dietary plan for their health or at least not without the changes taking more time. We often use dates raisins, or some other whole food sweetener, but also use some honey, syrup, or sugar of some kind, though sparingly. It is certainly possible for one to use some refined flour, for example, in a recipe, in an effort to make a preparation a little more like the standard fare.