The Power of Flax

It’s been a little while since I last posted a research piece. Honestly, these pieces often are very time consuming. On top of this, I realized that more recipes were needed. It’s one thing to tell you why you should eat healthy, but it seems impractical to not also show you how to do so.  

Flax seed has been around for quite some time. Treasured for it’s medicinal uses throughout the Roman Empire, it was also one of the first “health foods” used by Hypocrites. In fact, whenever I’m asked for a recommendation for a single healthy food to include into a diet, flax seed always makes the short list of possible contenders. But why is flax so well regarded?

Flax are available almost everywhere in the US and are relatively cheap – typically just $2 a pound. They’re two main verities, gold and brown. They are essentially the same nutritionally so either is just fine.

Now because the seeds have a strong fibrous outer shell, our bodies are often unable to digest them and access their full benefits. It is possible to chew them, but it is much simpler to just buy pre-ground flax seeds, or toss the whole flax seeds into a blender or coffee grinder and give them a few pluses. If you grind them yourself, you’ll want to keep them refrigerator or frozen to prevent them from going rancid. They will last several months in the fridge. 

The seeds are powerhouses of nutrition. While Hypocrites didn't have the details, he was clearly onto something. They are one of the richest sources of lignans. Lignans are a type of antioxidant that have been demonstrated to have a multitude of positive health effects. Some of them include the ability to help regulate hormone levels, they help support the immune system, can inhibit certain enzymes from becoming free radicals and may help reduce the stress hormone cortisol among others.

They also contain iron, zinc, copper, calcium, protein, magnesium, folate, and even a trace mineral known as boron that helps bone health. They also help decrease the amount of estrogen, which may help lower breast cancer risk.

On top of this, just 7 grams of ground flax seeds (roughly 1 tablespoon) contains 1.6 grams of Omega 3 fatty acid. That represents the recommended daily dose of Omega 3. To make flax seeds even more appealing, they have just .4 grams of Omega 6 (another essential fatty acid, that most people simple get way too much of.) This means the important Omega 3 to 6 ratio is a great .25. Chia seeds by comparison have .3 grams of omega 6 per 1.6 grams of omega 3, meaning that flax seeds actually has the more favorable omega ratio. Flax seeds are also far cheaper, so per dollar, you are getting more for your buck!

Flax also helps control our cholesterol and blood pressure levels and has also been shown to help with hot flashes in menopausal women.

Honestly, one tablespoon of ground flax seeds daily is one of the best foods you can include in your diet. Because they have such a neutral taste, you can use them in almost any way you desire, but heating them will destroy some of the nutrients so try and include some in their raw, ground state. I sprinkle them on my morning oats and in smoothies as well as on top of salads and pastas. You can also see this post about how to use flax as a replacement for oil in many recipes. 

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G.K. Paschos et. all. “Dietary supplementation with flaxseed oil lowers blood pressure in dyslipidaemic patients.” European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 61 2007.

Jeff Novick, “Nuts?” on McDougall Form Jan. 8, 2008.

Zhang, Wang, et. all. “Effects of dietary flaxseed lignan extract on symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Journal of Medical Food, 11 2008.

Zhang, Wang et. all. “Dietary flaxseed lignana extract lowers plasma cholesterol and glucose concentrations in hypercholesterolaemic subjects. British Journal of Nutrition. 99 2008.

As always the information presented in this blog is for educational purposes only. It should not be considered as specific medical, nutritional, lifestyle, or other health-related advice.

Yerba Mate: A beautiful South American Tradition

As many of you know, I was recently traveling in Buenos Aires. The city is beautiful and rich with tradition. While Buenos Aires operates on a pretty regular schedule, most still practice what is known as “merienda” which is like an afternoon siesta, typically in the middle or later part of the afternoon.  Part of this break includes sharing Yerba Mate (In Argentina it’s pronounce Chur-ba Mate).

Yerba Mate is a South American tea that is most popular in Argentina and Uruguay and in some southern parts of Brazil. It is made by steeping the ground leaves and steams of the yerba mate plant. In America you can find Yerba Mate tea bags, however, that is not how you should enjoy it. Instead, you serve the loose leaf Yerba in a gourd or small container called "mate" (which is Spanish for gourd) and drink small “shots” of tea through a metal straw known as a bombilla (bom-bish-a). 

This is where most American’s get uncomfortable. Because Argentina is a much more open and receptive society (I guess that is a result of not being settled by Puritans!) everyone shares the same mate and the same bombilla. Basically you pour hot (but not boiling) water onto the yerba and then sip the water until there is none left. Then you pour more water in the mate and pass it to the next person. I shared mate with friends while watching Argentina defeat the Netherlands to advance to the World Cup final. It was such a fantastic moment and memory, made all the more special by sharing mate. 

Historically, yerba mate has been being enjoyed since before Europeans arrived on the American continent. In the early 16th century, Juan de Solís, a Spanish explorer of South America's famed La Plata River, reported that the Guarani Indians of Paraguay brewed a leaf tea that "produced exhilaration and relief from fatigue." Today it is commonly drank multiple times a day. Often with toast, jams, or dulce de leche for breakfast or as a snack. 

Good quality Yerba Mate is available both online and in most health food stores in the US, and you can easily find inexpensive mates and bombilla online as well.

What better way than to reconnect with friends and family than by sharing mate while discussing the day?

Besides being a fun way of reconnecting with loved ones, yerba mate also has some amazing health benefits as it contains numerous nutrients. While it does have caffeine, its content varies, and can range between 25 – 75% less caffeine than a standard cup of coffee. However, according to Brendan Brazier, the caffeine in yerba mate does not cause a spike in cortisol the same way coffee does. As a result, some sensitive to the caffeine in coffees and teas may not be impacted by the caffeine in mate. That said, the Argentine futbol star Lionel Messi drinks mate before every single match, to help energize him to perform on the pitch, and former Ironman athlete Brendan Brazier used it before races.

 

The Pope and Lionel Messi both enjoying mate.

Yerba mate has roughly 90% more antioxidants than green tea, making this a true powerhouse drink. It contains vitamins B-1, B-2, A, riboflavin, carotene, colin, pantothenic acid, inositol and 15 types of aminoacids! It also contains a significant quantity of potassium, sodium, and magnesium.

Thanks to the antioxidant called polyphenols, yerba mate can help boost immune function and can also slow the signs of aging while also helping to detox the body. Furthermore, (and I almost feel like Dr. Oz for saying this) but several research article report that the consumption of Yerba Mate can help reduce the accumulation of lipids in adipocytes, (or in common talk, can help reduce fat storage) both of which lead to weight gain. Another study done on post pregnancy women showed that Mate consumption can decrease overall calorie consumption, suggesting that Yerba Mate may help one lose weight, and keep it off once they do.

Perhaps we should all start partaking in the merienda’s of South America! Clearly it will benefit our health! 

  

 

Just a few photos from the trip. Enjoy

Heckman, MA. Et al. “Caffeine in foods: a comprehensive review on consumption, functionality, safety, and regulatory matters.” Journal of Food Science. 2010.

Po, E. et al. “The Effect of Yerba Mate Supplementation on the Productive Performance of Dorper Ewes and their Progeny.” Asian-Australas Journal of Animal Science July 2012.

Kang, Young-Rye et al. “Anti-Obesity and Anti-diabetic effects of Yerba Mate in C57BL mice fed a high-fat diet.” Laboratory Animal Research March 2012.

As always the information presented in this blog is for educational purposes only. It should not be considered as specific medical, nutritional, lifestyle, or other health-related advice.

Curried Miso Butternut Squash Soup

It has been a beautiful fall and as such I’ve been inspired to cook with tons of root and other traditional fall veggies. From cranberries to cabbage, I’ve been enjoying them all, and over the weekend I made a soup that knocked my socks off! Literally! 

There are few things that say autumn better than butternut squash soup. While traditionally these soups are completely pureed, I’m not a big fan of fully pureed soups - if I want a smoothie, I’ll make one. This soup however starts out as a traditional butternut squash soup but then gets transformed into something completely new and unique and the taste is out of this word! I look forward to sharing this great recipe with my family this holiday season!

Curried Miso Butternut Squash Soup

Serves 2-4

2-3lbs peeled and cubed Butternut squash – separate into two equal sized piles

3 potatoes – cubed (I prebaked these for 15 minutes on 350 while preparing the other ingredients)

1 cup red lentils – washed

½ cup brown or wild rice

1 red onion – chopped

3 carrots – cut into large cubed pieces

3 stalks celery – chopped

1/3 cup purple cabbaged – chopped

2 cups kale – chopped

1 tbsp sweet miso paste

1 tbsp curry powder

2 cloves garlic

1 small chunk ginger

8 cups veggie broth

In a blender or food processor, add 5 cups of the veggie broth, half of the butternut squash, the miso, curry, garlic, and ginger. Blend until smooth.

Now pour the butternut squash-broth into a large soup pan. Add the red lentils, potato, the remaining cubed squash, and rice and bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil lower heat to a medium flame and stir frequently. As the soup cooks, it will begin thicken. Slowly add the remaining broth and stir it into the soup to keep it from becoming too thick. After 15 minutes or so, the harder root vegetables will start to soften and the lentils will plump up. As this happens add the chopped onion and carrots to the mix and continue cooking. At this point you can lower the heat even more to a low simmer and cover, but still stirring every few minutes. After another 10 minutes or so, the root vegetables should be soft but not over cooked. Add the celery and the purple cabbage and cook for another 5 minutes or until the celery becomes translucent.

Serve your soup hot on top of your favorite greens. I used kale.    

As always the information presented in this blog is for educational purposes only. It should not be considered as specific medical, nutritional, lifestyle, or other health-related advice.

A Powerful antioxidant, Cinnamon

Just a short post about a spice that is probably sitting in all of your cabinets right now. Cinnamon is a culinary spice that is derived from the fragrant inner bark of a group of small evergreen trees called Cinnamomums. It is the second most popular spice used in the United States, right behind black pepper.

There are two major types of cinnamon found in the US. They are Ceylon cinnamon and Cassia cinnamon. Ceylon cinnamon is typically from Sri Lanka, and is also referred to as "true cinnamon.” While Ceylon is the predominate source of cinnamon sold in the UK, it is not the predominant spice typically sold as cinnamon in the United States. More common is Cassia cinnamon, which is typically from Burma but also grown in China and Vietnam and is sometimes called Chinese cinnamon. Cassia is darker in color and often has a stronger more pungent taste.

According to a major study done measuring antioxidants of various foods, cloves were found to be the most potent supply, by weight, but cinnamon wasn’t far behind. As such, cinnamon is an excellent food to be included into your normal diet. Evidence suggests that cinnamon has “anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, cardiovascular, cholesterol-lowering, and immunomdulatory effects.” 

That said, the distinction between Ceylon and Cassia makes a bigger difference than one would imagine. Cassia cinnamon is the main source of coumarin found in most people’s diet. Courmarin is a naturally occurring toxin which has the potential to damage the liver when taken in high doses.

Recent studies have revealed that regularly consuming Cassia cinnamon powder could be problematic, resulting in potentially harmful levels of coumarin intake. For example, Dr. Joel Furhrman, reports that one study estimated that small children eating oatmeal sprinkled with cinnamon a few times a week would exceed the established safe upper limit of exposure.

Cinnamon also is high in oxalates. Oxalates have been linked to cause oxalate kidney stones which sounds rather uncomfortable to me. However, less than 10% of the oxalates found in cinnamon are absorbed, so even taking large doses of cinnamon on a daily basis shouldn’t be a problem in this regard.

Since Ceylon cinnamon has been tested as having near-zero levels of courmarin, it’s worth the time and money for American consumers to find a good source of Ceylon cinnamon. FRONTIER Natural Products Co-Op is my preferred choice as I can get it easily from Whole Foods or any other natural/organic grocer. Because of it's many health benefits, Ceylon Cinnamon is an excellent, easy and delicious way to boost one's antioxidant intake.  

As always the information presented in this blog is for educational purposes only. It should not be considered as specific medical, nutritional, lifestyle, or other health-related advice.

More Reading:

U.S. Department of Agriculture. Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) of Selected Foods—2007. November 2007. 

M. Tang, D.E. Larson-Meyer, & M. Liebman. Effect of cinnamon and turmeric on urinary oxalate excretion, plasma lipids, and plasma glucose in healthy subjects. Am J Clin Nutr, 87(5):1262-1267, 2008. 

Gruenwald J, Freder J, Armbruester N. Cinnamon and health. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2010 Oct;50(9):822-34.

Fuhrman, Joel. “Choosing the Right Cinnamon,” http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/choosing_the_right_cinnamon.aspx

In Iceberg's Defense

I recently wrote a post about how a “health” food could actually be harmful to your health, and ironically, this post is about how a “junk” food is actually a nutrient-dense health food.

Recently I became involved in an online debate with friends about the health benefits of iceberg lettuce. My opponents relied on the standard troupes… "Its negative calories," "it has no nutrients," "it’s just fiber and water." But is this really true?

If vegetables could sue for lible, Iceberg Lettuce would never leave the court room. Not since the 1800’s when, oddly enough, Americans became convinced that tomatoes were poisonous has a crop been so abused.*

I have to admit that I fully believed all of the anti-iceberg rhetoric for a very long time as well. Only recently did I start to have a new respect for the greatly maligned green. My curiosity was first sparked by Dr. Fuhrman’s ANDI score, which surprisingly gave iceberg lettuce a very strong score of 110. "But how could it be," I thought? Surely this must be a mistake!

Then I learned about the antioxidant content of iceberg lettuce. All in all, it has a pretty pathetic ORAC score of 17 (compared to an average ORAC score of 1,157 for plant foods- Kale has an ORAC value of 1,770!) but even this low score is multiple times higher than nearly all animal foods. For instance, Iceberg lettuce has twice the amount of antioxidant units as salmon (ORAC 7), and nearly three times the amount of antioxidants found in chicken (ORAC 6). It only gets worst from there. Milk and yogurt each have a pathetic ORAC score of 4 which ties them with coke, and eggs only get an ORAC score of 2. That’s right; you’d have to eat 8.5 eggs to get the same amount of antioxidants as a similar serving size of iceberg lettuce! And you’d also be getting tons of calories, cholesterol, and saturated fat to go along with it! 

So then I decided to look at the numbers. I was actually pretty surprised.

For 100 calories, Iceberg lettuce has over 100% of your daily RDA recommended consumption of vitamin K and over 200% of your vitamin C. In fact, both of these vitamins are more plentifully found in Iceberg than in Romaine lettuce. For 100 calories, Iceberg also has 6.4 grams of protein and over 23% of your daily fiber needs. It also has over 100% of your vitamin A requirement  200% of your folate needs (this is particularly important for women of childbearing age), and has nearly 40% of our daily Manganese and 23% of our Omega 3s with an impressive 3:1 count of Omega 3 to Omega 6 (researchers claim most diets are too heavily skewed toward Omega 6).

So how much is 100 calories worth? Well it is about the size of a medium to large head of lettuce. Chances are you are not going to eat an entire head of lettuce in one sitting. Still the point remains, this food has several health benefits and should not be avoided or shunned, especially if the choice is between iceberg and a non-whole plant based vegetable or fruit. I’m the first to admit that iceberg lettuce is not the most nutrient-dense food, but it’s not empty calories either. While I prefer the taste of darker more substantial greens, like kale and collards, and ideally our diets should include these, my point is there is room in our lives for iceberg as well. As I wrote in my last point, eat the veggies that you enjoy most, because even if they are not the superfood champions, they are still a whole lot better than the alternatives.

*So the story goes that Americans believed tomatoes were poisonous and in 1820, Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson decided to prove they were not harmful by eating a full basket of them on the steps of a court house in Salem, NJ. I’ve heard two endings to the story. One is that he successfully proved tomatoes were not poisonous, and slowly tomatoes reentered the American diet, the other is that the day following eating the tomatoes, he suffered severe diarrhea and as a result, no one in the state ate tomatoes for several more years. It’s hard to tell which ending is correct.  I suppose you can just choose which ever one you prefer, as that is how good lore gets spread.

Further Reading:

Carlsen MH, Halvorsen BL, Holte K, Bøhn SK, Dragland S, Sampson L, Willey C, Senoo H, Umezono Y, Sanada C, Barikmo I, Berhe N, Willett WC, Phillips KM, Jacobs DR Jr, Blomhoff R. The total antioxidant content of more than 3100 foods, beverages, spices, herbs and supplements used worldwide. Nutr J. 2010 Jan 22;9:3.

Nutrient Density numbers taken from: nutritiondata.self.com

See also:
J. Novick, "Iceberg Lettuce A Lesson in Nutrient Density" 3/21/2008.

Red Lentil and Spinach Dal

It is pretty hard to believe that it has taken me over a year to post a recipe with lentils in it. I suppose it is because I eat a lentil salad almost every day, I don’t feel it is worthy of blogging - to me they are just a fact of life. However, today’s recipe is truly worth sharing. Last night I came home from work in the mood for Indian food, about 45 minutes later I was sitting down to a beautiful and delicious meal.

Out of the three most common types of lentils (Green, French, and Red) found in the standard American grocery store, red lentils have the highest antioxidant count, making it the healthiest of the three and king of the beans. On top of that, these little red legumes cook much fast than the other types making it perfect for throwing together a quick meal after work. Besides having the incredibly healthy benefits of a meal of greens and beans, the spice combination in this recipe delivers powerful anti-inflammation properties as well as boosting the overall antioxidant count, making this meal a real powerhouse! Finally, just to prove that healthy cooking isn’t difficult, this recipe only uses one large pot, so clean up is a breeze!

 

Makes 3-4 servings:

4 cups water or vegetable broth

2 cups red lentils

1 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 cup kale, chopped

1/2 cup fresh spinach, chiffonade

1/2 red onion, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, diced
1 inch piece of peeled garlic, diced

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masla

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper*

Under the faucet, rinse the lentils well under warm water until the water runs clean. This is important to do because it not only cleans the lentils of any debris, but also will help to increase the nutritional absorption while cutting down on the amount of gas they may cause. 

After the lentils are thoroughly rinsed, transfer them into a large pot with the water and bring to a boil. Let the lentils boil for about 25 minutes. If foam starts to collect on the top of the water, simply scrape it off with a spoon.  When the water is mostly absorbed, add the rice, red onion, kale (I actually used frozen mixed greens) and the spices to the lentils and turn the heat down to a simmer. 

Cook for another 5-10 minutes until the greens are soft and the spices are well absorbed.

Put the chiffonade spinach into a bowl, and then spoon your dal on top, letting the spinach wilt slightly. I served mine with two whole wheat crackers, but sprouted bread would also be delightful.

 

 

(An Instagram pic just for fun )

*Be sure to include black pepper whenever you are cooking with turmeric or curry as it helps the body metabolize them.