Raspberry Dreams

What a lovely weekend to spend planting, pruning and dreaming of the fruits to come!

Raspberry mulching was my task for the day; though the raspberry plants are just canes all of two and a half feet tall. These winter canes will be dormant for a few more weeks. Yet I could see their promise of deep red raspberries with juicy, sweet flavor.

Then I wandered off into my imagination …. blueberries, blackberries, mulberries, logan berries, elderberries…. I was in berry land and how I would eat them…. triple berry pie, raspberry granola with yogurt, blueberry smoothies, elderberry tea…berries and cream.

Why eat berries?
Here are a few great reasons to eat them daily.

I had the great pleasure of speaking with Dr. James Joseph, one of the lead researchers at The Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging where they have been investigating the polyphenols in raspberries and their effects on cognitive and motor skills in aging mice. They found there is a positive correlation between eating a raspberries and regaining cognitive and motor abilities. Blueberries seem to help with memory and cognitive skills. When asked where he got the berries, he said in the freezer department of the local supermarket!

Another great nutritional berry gem comes from the American Cancer Society’s work. They report that the ellagic acid found in raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries and many other fruits and nuts, may slow some tumor growths, help to stop the proliferation of new cancer blood vessel, and support the liver in its unending task of detoxifying the body.

So join me in dreaming about berries, and then enjoy some in your next smoothie.


Raspberry Coconut Smoothie

½ - ¾ cup coconut milk
1 ripe banana
½ cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1 tablespoon ground flax or chia seeds
Optional:
1 scoop protein powder, whey, rice or hemp

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Store leftovers in the blender in the refrigerator. Simply re-blend before serving or freeze the extra in an ice cube tray and blend cubes into your next smoothie.

Our Ceres Project Cookbook Nourishing Connections has delicious recipes for berry pies and more!

High Blood Sugar Levels and Cancer

Quick and easy processed foods may seem a convenient; however health problems may occur when high calorie processed sugars in fast foods spike blood sugar levels. Sugars in combination with fats and salt are a highly prized flavor that people crave and seem never to get enough of.

Why?
Processed simple sugars like corn syrups, fructose or white sugars, white flour do not have the fats, fiber or nutrients to spark our metabolism to feel full. Our blood sugar spikes when we eat these high energy sweet foods like sugary drinks, snack foods and processed foods. Though there are calories in these foods they lack nutritional substance. When our blood sugar drops again we are back looking for the nourishment we never received. So we take one more sugary mouthful hoping to feel satisfied.

A recent study completed at Umeå University in Sweden researched how 500,000 men and women’s blood sugar levels related to developing cancer. They found that people with high blood sugar levels were at a higher risk of getting certain cancers. Women seemed more vulnerable to developing cancer than men with high blood sugar levels.

The Metabolic Syndrome and Cancer Study states: “The researchers found that, overall, the higher the level of blood glucose, the higher the risk of getting and dying from cancer. Average normal blood glucose levels are about 5 mmol/l, also expressed as 5 mM or 90 mg/dl. For each additional 1 mmol/l increase in blood glucose level, the risk of getting cancer was increased by 5% for men and 11% for women.”
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000201

The Sweden study is not the first to recognize high blood sugar levels are associated with cancer risks. Many other studies have been previously done and found correlations between weight, sugar levels and cancer. Dr Nicholas Perricone, MD and author of Sugar Shock noted that “A growing number of scientists are citing a high sugar intake as a factor in the development of cancers of the breast, gallbladder, prostate, colon, uterus, and pancreas. In fact, researchers suspect that high sugar and insulin levels encourage tumor growth.”

The message here is easy to remember; eat foods as naturally as possible like whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruits, lean meats and fish, nuts and seeds, sea vegetables. Encourage a healthy internal terrain that can resist cancer. Eat well, choose health.





Split Mung Dahl

Dahl is a Sanskrit term referring to pulses which nave been stripped of their outer hulls and split. It also is the name of this nutritious comforting stew. The spices and herbs are excellent carminative and digestive aides as well as anti inflammatory.

Serves 9

1 Tablespoons Coconut oil or ghee
1 large Onion, minced
7 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Jalapeño chilies, minced
1 ½ inches Fresh ginger, minced
2 tsp Turmeric powder

1 ¾ cups Split, washed mung beans or yellow lentils
1 cup Organic tomatoes diced or 1 large can diced organic tomatoes
2 medium Zucchini, chopped
7½ cups Broth or water

2 tsp Coconut oil
2 tsp Black mustard seeds
2 tsp Cumin seed
2 tsp Coriander seed
½ bunch Cilantro, chopped


Heat the coconut oil in large heavy-bottom pot. Add onions and sauté for 15 to 20 minutes until caramelized and paste-like (this is important as it create a nice sauce).
Add garlic, ginger, chili, and turmeric. Continue to cook for 10 minutes.

Rinse beans and add to mixture. Add zucchini and cook another 5 minutes.
Add water and tomatoes, simmer for about 1 hour, until beans are soft but still hold their shape.

Heal oil over medium heat in a cast iron skillet. Add spices and cook until hot and popping- do not burn.
Add to the soup at the end.

Garnish with cilantro.

We are What We Eat

Happy New Year! Unfortunately I did not get to post my Book Reviews last month. However the New Year is here, so I will again begin the Book Review!

Three years ago I read Patricia Klindienst’s most wonderful book The Earth Knows My Name, Food Culture and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans. I cried through several chapters as it touched my heart so deeply. The stories are of American immigrants struggling to hold onto their culture, their sense of the land and food by farming or gardening. For many it is their livelihood, for others just a way of expressing their relationship to the land and their native culture.

There is one part of the book that I wish to share with you, as I feel that it is vital to understanding our relationship to food. Gerard Bentryn, a Polish American vintner in Bainbridge Island, Washington tells his story;

“When I worked in British Columbia,’ he explains, ‘we were doing surveys on wilderness perception in Strathcona Provincial Park. I spent days alone in the woods watching people through binoculars. When I would come down out of the woods I’d eat at a logging camp. One of the guys who works in the mess hall and would sometimes be having coffee while I was eating there was a Native Canadian. One day he says to me,

‘Oh, so you’re out in the woods, and you’re learning about this valley.’ He said,

'I’ve never left this valley. Every thing that I eat comes out of this valley. Everybody that I am related to, all my family, is buried in this valley. When I eat, I eat the people and the place. I’m made out of Vancouver Island. But look at what you’re eating.’ I said, ‘Yeah?’
and he said, ‘You’re made out of tin cans. Because that’s what you eat out of.’

‘He was teasing me in a good-natured way, but I thought about it and he was right. We use the phrase “we are what we eat,’ but I also think we are where we eat. That’s the thing that people miss. This need to be of a place, to be of a community.’”
(my emphasis)

Sharing a meal with someone in your community, it is a precious gift. Having someone over, cooking together, enjoying food from your local markets, laughing together and those moments may be the most nourishing foods we can have.

Enjoy!