The Holistic Kitchen

What to Eat:

Administrator — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:50:18 +0000

From Michael Pollan’s Food Rules An Eater’s Manual ¹

Eat food.
Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.
Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) in the top three ingredients.

Sticking to these rules (and they are only the first five, from Pollan’s Food Rules¹) will go a looong way toward maintaining a healthy (and healing) diet for you and your loved ones!

¹Pollan, Michael. Food Rules, An Eater’s Manual. Penguin Books, 2009. 5-13.

‘Medical Food’ If you or a loved one has been prescribed this...

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‘Medical Food’

Administrator — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:40:05 +0000

If you’ve read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, per my recommendation or otherwise, you’ll know this about what is considered FOOD:

Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
Don’t eat anything incapable of rotting.
Avoid "food products" that are

a. Unfamiliar

b. Unpronounceable

c. Contain more than five ingredients or

d. Contain high fructose corn syrup

I strongly support all of these statements by Mr. Pollan and would like to point out that many “Medical Foods” prescribed for gravely ill patients or those battling life threatening diseases don’t satisfy one of Mr. Pollan’s well researched criteria of what food is.

These so called Medical Foods will indeed provide calories, but these “non-foods” as Mr. Pollan would call them, are in large part responsible for our state of disease in the first place!

Calories from Medical Food may keep us alive a little longer, but what is absolutely needed to heal and thrive is the complex nutrition that only WHOLE FOODS can provide.

If you or a loved one has been prescribed this type of liquid nutrition for medical reasons, please PLEASE, research your (whole food) options. Visit The Holistic Kitchen.com for ideas. Send us questions. Read our post entitled Making the Most of a Smoothie.

Here’s to your health!

Chef Nancy

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Making the most of a smoothie

Administrator — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:26:14 +0000

The great thing about liquid nutrition is that you can blend in all sorts of crazy nourishing things and still feel like you’re drinking a fun treat! If you pack a lot of nutrition in, a little bit can be very sustaining for one whose appetite is compromised. AND it allows you to take advantage of raw foods that are easily digested and available for the body to put to work, right away.

The trick is in the equipment, from the blender to the glass you serve it in.

I love the Vita Mix blender. It will completely puree whole foods to smooth as silk, without having to remove the skin or fibrous parts. You get everything nature intended using a Vita Mix blender.

For example, place a cup of water and 1/4 cup of almonds in a Vita Mix and in about a minute, you have your own homemade almond milk. Now add one half of a washed, organic apple (remove stem and quarter it first, but definitely use the core). Blend it up! Let’s get some green protein in there – how about a generous handful of organic, washed baby spinach. Toss in a teaspoon of bee pollen or royal jelly for a protein boost that offers B-12 too.

“But wait, that’s not all!” Don’t forget a heaping scoop of your favorite Micro Algae blend (I like the Green Vibrance powder from Vibrant Health – it is loaded with micro algae, probiotics, and enzymes, to name a few, and all from whole foods).

And then, some Omega 3 fatty acids: 1 tablespoon of whole flax seeds. Need to add some weight to your skeleton? Add ½ an avocado and/or a tablespoon of organic coconut butter or cold pressed virgin coconut oil. A note about these last three alternatives: The avocado will add creaminess and may increase the thickness of the drink, so you may need to add more water. The coconut butter or oil may harden if chilled from ice cubes or frozen fruit, but the Vita Mix action will warm it.)

Okay, so now we have to make it TASTE GOOD and get some colorful items for a balance of nutrients and antioxidants. I happen to prefer raspberries, myself, but you can put your favorite colorful berries in – fresh or frozen (just be sure they are organic). The berries will add some sweetness, but you may want more. You can try a 1-2 drops of liquid Stevia (a tiny bit goes a loooong way!) or a squirt of organic raw Agave nectar.

Once you have perfected your blend, transfer it to a beautiful glass and viola! A frothy treat that is meal in a glass.

Have fun experimenting with the fruits and vegetables you use. Mix them up (ha!) so you are getting a wide array of all the vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients. Think of trying to achieve a rainbow of nutrition throughout your day.

Happy blending!

Chef Nancy

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Why Avoid Plastic Storage Containers?

Administrator — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:14:26 +0000

What’s the big deal? Plastic storage containers are so convenient! Here’s a great blog post by Dr. Garret Wdowin that puts it into "clear" (ahem) perspective:

Read On!

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Cancer Diet and Fruit

Administrator — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:32:52 +0000

Often times, cancer patients are told by their physicians to be careful how much fruit they consume, due to its sugar content and potential to spike the glucose, resulting in higher levels of insulin growth factor hormones.

According to Jennifer Murray, "Eating a low GL-diet does not mean giving up good-for-you foods such as fruits and vegetables".

Those who wish to control their blood sugar may believe (since fruits and vegetables are typically rich in complex carbohydrates), that produce is off limits. "This isn’t the case at all" states Murray. "In fact, fruits and vegetables should be consumed daily not only because they are high in fiber, but also because fruits and vegetables provide many of the vitamins and nutrients that the body needs. Many fruits and vegetables have been shown to have very little impact on blood sugar levels because of their low Glycemic Load (GL) value."

Murray further reports:

"Even though many fruits have a moderate to high GL count due to their high sugar content, it’s unlikely that one would eat enough to spike blood sugar levels the way even small amounts of processed carbs will. There are many fruits that are very low in GL and have little impact on blood sugar."

"A low-GL value is considered 10 or less, and one 4-ounce serving of the following fruits all have a GL value of less than 10":

Fresh apricots
Avocado
Blackberries
Cantaloupe
Fresh cherries
Grapefruit
Grapes
Honeydew
Kiwi
Lemon
Mandarins
Nectarines
Oranges
Raspberries
Fresh watermelon

Benefits of a Low-Glycemic Load Diet

It’s not only those who suffer with diabetes that need to keep their blood sugar levels in check. More and more research is finding that the benefits of controlled blood sugar apply even to those who do not have diabetes and are otherwise healthy individuals. According to Dr. Mabel Blades, author of The Glycemic Load Counter, benefits of a low-GL diet include:

Stable blood sugar levels
Easier weight management and weight loss
Increased energy
Decreased risk of insulin resistance
Improved memory
Improved digestion
Lowered cholesterol

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Press Release

Administrator — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:07:19 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Nancy Banner

480-215-8864

info@theholistickitchen.com

The Holistic Kitchen Launches Expanded Services

Mesa, Arizona. September 14, 2009. The Holistic Kitchen, a personal chef service offering healthy meals for cancer patients in the East Valley, is expanding to help meet the needs of people with special dietary concerns.

Founded in 2008 by Nancy Banner, The Holistic Kitchen’s goal was to help individuals understand the relationship between a diet of wholesome nourishment and physical and emotional well-being. Chef Banner focused on teaching patients undergoing or recovering from cancer treatment how to nourish themselves and use food to rebuild strength and immunity.

The Holistic Kitchen currently offers training and meal service for cancer patients across the Valley as well as others who are adapting to or living with special or restrictive diets. Customized menus can be prepared for those with a wide range of needs, including gluten-free, dairy-free and/or sugar-free diets, multiple food allergies, candida/fibromyalgia and vegan/vegetarian/living food diets.

“I am passionate about helping the critically ill find comfort and healthy nourishment in food due to the staggering numbers that lose their battle to malnutrition, not their disease! We are expanding to include other types of special diets because trying to change one’s eating habits can be an overwhelming process. Our service manages the details, makes the appropriate nutrition taste good and gives the individual an opportunity to develop their palate to a new way of eating.”

A detailed questionnaire is used to tailor meals to each client’s unique needs. A chef from The Holistic Kitchen the custom designs a menu, does the grocery shopping, prepares meals in the client’s kitchen, packages them with heating instructions and cleans up. Weekly, monthly and “as needed” plans are available.

Chef Banner is a 1995 graduate of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute. She has devoted most of her life to the study of nutrition and how it can be used to promote optimal health. She is formalizing her studies in Nutritional Counseling with the Global College of Natural Medicine.

Chef Banner is assisted by Sandy Liberman, a recent graduate of the Arizona Culinary Institute, whose focus was nutrition and special diets.

To learn more about The Holistic Kitchen, or to schedule a cook date, call 480.215.8864, email info@theholistickitchen.com or visit www.theholistickitchen.com.

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Eat your Vegetables!

Administrator — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:08:00 +0000

Research in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University suggests that some natural food compounds, which previously have been studied for their ability to prevent cancer, may be able to play a more significant role in treating it – working side-by-side with the conventional drugs that are now used in chemotherapy.

Article Date: 01 Sep 2009 – 5:00 PDT

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Administrator — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:50:25 +0000

tyiwhazk2e

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Chronic Inflammation

Administrator — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:20:49 +0000

Point of clarification: Acute inflammation is a natural and necessary part of our immune system to repair tissue and aid healing.

Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, can be considered a nasty beast that confuses your immune response and is definitely harmful to your health!

Where does it come from?

CHRONIC CELLULAR STRESS – from toxins, from a decreased sensitivity to insulin, known as insulin resistance, yeast overgrowth (candida), a stagnant colon and/or irregular elimination (yes, I’m talking bowel movements) are among the many sources of chronic cellular stress that lead to chronic inflammation.
STRESS AS WE KNOW IT– chronic lack of sleep, high stress job, endless worry and especially persistent anger or depression, all can trigger an overproduction of hormones that stimulate inflammatory response.

Combine this circulating surplus with a trigger of many possible sorts, such as an injury, a virus or cellular damage from oxidation (free radicals) and you have a condition of cellular chaos in which normal checks and balances that are supposed to control activity are turned on their ear. The result is invariably disease of some nature and quite often, cancer. In the case of disease such as cancer, the mechanism that is supposed to “shut off” a healthy inflammatory healing response, simply doesn’t and the result is a chronic ongoing surplus of inflammation. Add to this , the fact that the chronic inflammation blocks cell death, allowing cancer cells to merrily flourish. So in very simple terms, cancer cells stimulate their own growth from chronic inflammation and are protected from death by it, as well. To make matters even worse, neighboring immune cells, become confused by this and don’t respond to the fire whistle – they don’t even try to fight the tumor.

The good news: this process does have a weakness and it can be exploited with readily available whole foods

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Class Schedule

Administrator — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Using Food to Fight Cancer: An Introduction

Saturday, August 22, 2009

11:00am – 12:00pm

Whole Foods Market, Chandler, Arizona

Free

To RSVP for this event please email sp.chr.marketing@wholefoods.com, or call (480) 821-9447 and ask for Marketing.

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