Longing for your past diet...

I think I have heard it from every person I've worked with nutritionally, at some point or another: "I really miss eating [fill in the blank here.]"  It is hard to give up old habits, especially when they have to do with food.  There are so many ways to get around this, though.

1. Remember that your new, healthier way of eating really does make you feel better, and will have an immense long-term health benefit, too.  It is worth it.
2. Learn to substitute healthier choices in your favorite dishes (see recipe below!)  Don't just eat things you don't love all day--figure out how to LOVE healthy food!
3. Give yourself, as a reward for all your good choices, a treat every now and a blue moon (this is depending on your state of health, of course.)  Try not to make it an artificially flavored and colored popsicle made out of chemicals, though.  Choose wisely...an organic ice cream cone from your local hand-made ice cream shop, for example.  If it gives you joy, joy has health benefits, too!
4. Know that your taste buds do change.  Just yesterday, my husband had a bit of one of those aforementioned popsicles and could barely swallow it.  It tasted...NOT like food, which it wasn't.  You will stop liking these things, believe me!

When I went through the raw foods immersion program, my taste buds did change. Sugar, which I'd already reduced substantially in my diet, tasted really strong to me.  And green juice tasted TRULY delicious.

Here is a great recipe to have when you are craving your "old" diet.  Instead of a greasy beef taco with a teensy bit of veggies on top, and loaded down with cheese and sour cream, enjoy this:

Red Lentil Tacos

(serves 4)

1 cup dried red lentils
Extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 inch of ginger, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. salt
2 cups vegetable broth

corn tortillas (8)
2 avocados
1 lime
1 can black olives
handful of arugula (or other green of choice)
salsa (optional! It's great without!)

• As soon as you measure out the lentils, soak them in water. Even if they just soak for 10 min, that's great, but a few hours would be even better.
• Sautee in a large pan with olive oil: 1 chopped onion and the minced ginger. Once they are soft (after about 10 min.), add in the garlic, cumin, coriander, and salt.  Saute for about a minute more. 
• Drain the lentils, then add them to the onion mixture in the saute pan.  Stir around to let the flavors meld, then add in 2 cups of vegetable broth.  (I like having Rapunzel vegetable bouillon cubes around. They are the best vegetable broth on the market, and so easy: in this case, boil 2 cups of water and add in 1 cube!)
• Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, checking for "doneness" and stirring occasionally. 
• Warm your corn tortillas in a large pan, and then assemble tacos.
• For each taco: a corn tortilla, a scoop of lentil deliciousness, slices of avocado, black olives, arugula, and a squeeze of lime on top.  You will find you don't even long for the cheese or sour cream!

Serve alongside spiced brown rice, a big green salad, or a tomato salad.

Health benefits of lentils: an excellent source of fiber, protein, iron, magnesium, and potassium.  They lower cholesterol, are great for diabetes because they don't cause blood sugars to rise, and are protective against cancer.  In fact, the Nurses' Health Study (II), which followed the diets of over 90,000 women for decades, found that women who ate lentils twice a week had a 24% reduced risk of breast cancer.

Eating Organic!

You are what you eat.  It is up to you to choose what food is going to sustain you day after day.  You prepare it; you eat it; you digest and absorb it; it becomes your blood, your cells, your tissues.

When I shop at an organic market and buy a diverse collection of vegetables, fruits, grains, seaweed noodles, kombucha, fresh fish....it makes me SO HAPPY.  I love knowing that my family is putting truly good food into our bodies.

The more I learn, the more I understand how critical it is that we all eat organic whenever possible.  This is important for cancer prevention and especially if you are living with cancer.  For your body to fight the cancer cells, it has to be at its absolute best.  That means digesting food easily and not battling free radicals, toxins, and chemicals that make your body and your liver have to work hard to flush them out.  If you have cancer, you want your body to have an easy job of digesting and using food to its benefit, so that it has energy to fight the tumor and heal.  Organic food will absolutely make that process more likely.

"Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forests to be turned into comic books and plastic cigarette cases...if we pollute the last clean air and dirty the last clean streams...so that never again will Americans be free from noise, the exhausts, the stinks of human and automotive waste.  And so that never again can we have the chance to see ourselves as...part of the environment of trees and rocks and soil, brother to the other animals, part of the natural world and competent to belong in it."

-Wallace Stegner

Having less pesticides on our growing food is also, obviously, better for our planet.  The cleaner our planet, the cleaner we will be.  Eating organic supports a cleaner water supply; agricultural run-off is poisoning our water, which affects each of us with the water we drink.  If we support organic, there will eventually be less toxins on the land.

In addition to organic food being less toxic and polluting of our bodies and our planet, Rutgers University recently conducted a study comparing organic produce with conventional, and the study showed that organic has a (much) higher nutritional count.  So not only are we getting fewer toxins, chemicals, and genetically engineered ingredients in our body when we eat organic, but we are also getting simply better nutritional value.

Yes, organic is more expensive. But it is worth it.  Think about the long-term health costs you may accrue from eating food grown with pesticides or antibiotics.  Also consider that we only spend 13.8% of our income on food today, compared with 29.7% in 1950.  Food is cheaper, and the quality is less.  And our chronic disease and health problems have increased dramatically along with cheaper production costs.  If affording organic is hard on your wallet, refer to the chart below, which lists the "dirtiest foods," which are the most important to buy organic, and the "cleanest," which you can buy conventionally if you need to.

I love this recipe because, to me, lentils feel filling and delicious, without ever bogging you down.  The addition of the bright, colorful, juicy fruit and vegetables makes this dish a delight. And it is fast and easy, too.  Put on the lentils while you're unloading the dishwasher, chop the veggies, and...voila!  Be sure to use all organic, of course. 

Fruity, Crunchy Lentil Salad

1 lb black lentils or french lentils

1/2 hothouse cucumber, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 green onions, diced

1/2 cup almonds, chopped and toasted

1-2 cup red grapes, halved

2 slices celery, diced

lemon zest from 2 lemons

juice from 2 lemons

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

-Cook lentils, by covering them by 2 inches with water in a large pan. Bring to a boil and cook for about 22 minutes on a simmer

-Meanwhile, dice and chop all vegetables, grapes & almonds

-Pour veggies/grapes in a large bowl, and cover with lemon zest, salt and pepper

-Add in lentils once cooked & drained, and add olive oil and lemon juice to taste. Adjust seasoning to taste.

-Enjoy at room temperature or cold!

I like black lentils for their pretty, delicate shape and firm texture.

The mixture before adding the lentils.