Healthy Eating Tips

Easy Kale With Pecans Recipe

It has been forever since I’ve posted a recipe, and I apologize. The thing is, I’ve been really busy. And when I’m busy my meals don’t tend to be super interesting or fancy.

But they are definitely delicious.

Kale has been my favorite instant meal lately. I can usually find three different kinds–curly, Tuscan (aka dinosaur), and red Russian–and they all work with this recipe. You can also substitute chard or any other sturdy greens to mix things up. If you want to make your life even easier look for kale with smaller, young leaves so the stems are tender enough to leave in while cooking.

The key to making a plain green vegetable worthy of an entire meal is adding something with protein or fat (preferably both). Nuts work perfectly, as do any kind of beans or lentils. This recipe calls for pecans, which are wonderful, but I usually use roasted pistachio nuts since they don’t need to be chopped. I was out of pistachios today since I ate so much kale last week (these things happen).

For me this meal is a perfect lunch. Alternatively you can serve it as a side dish and it can serve a few people. If you would like a little more substance serve it with lentils and brown rice or quinoa. I will sometimes have sardines or smoked mackerel or trout on the side.

Super Easy Kale With Pecans Recipe

Serves 1-3 people. 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch kale or chard
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans or pistachios
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Sea salt to taste

Start by mincing your garlic, just to make it a tiny bit healthier. Rinse your greens and place them all on a cutting board oriented in the same direction. If the leaves have very thick stems you may want to remove them as explained here. Personally I buy greens that are fresh and tender enough that I rarely bother removing stems.

Pile the greens on top of each other. Starting at the tip of the leaves, cut 1 inch strips until you have cut the entire bunch. If you are using Tuscan or red Russian kale, a lot less chopping is necessary because the leaves are thin and only need be cut in one direction. If your leaves are wide, cut them into 1-2 inch squares. It’s okay if your greens are still wet, the water will help them steam.

Using a pan with tall sides and a lid, add the nuts and turn it on medium heat. Lightly toast the nuts, stirring regularly with tongs. After 2-3 minutes, add olive oil to the pan and allow it to heat up. Add your chopped greens to the pan, sprinkle generously with sea salt and toss with tongs. Cover.

Stir the greens occasionally so they don’t burn, always replacing the lid after stirring. Continue cooking the greens as they wilt and turn dark green. If they start to burn lower the heat, add 1-2 tbsp of water and cover again to steam.

Kale is done cooking when it is dark green and the stems are tender. Unlike spinach, it is very difficult to over-cook kale because it retains its crispness very well.  Before turning off the heat, use tongs to clear a space in the center of the pan and add your minced garlic in a single layer. Allow the garlic to cook until it becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds, then mix it up with the kale and nuts. Add half cup of beans or lentils at this point if desired.

Continue to cook greens uncovered for another minute or two. Taste test a leaf for saltiness and adjust to taste (be careful if you are using chard, it is naturally salty and easy to over-season).

Serve immediately.

Who loves kale as much as I do?

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Tags: dinosaur kale, kale, red Russian kale, time

Margie's Goodies

In honor of the Super Bowl and permanently nice weather, today’s guest farmers market update is from sunny Miami, Florida.

Brilliant and irreverent, Holly Hickman is one of my favorite healthy eating bloggers. Definitely check out (and subscribe to) her blog and follow her on Twitter @Holly_Hickman. You will not regret it.

Holly is also the author of Healthy Eats Here, a guide to local, sustainable restaurants across America. If you like good, healthy food and have done any traveling you know how difficult it can be to find a decent meal on the road. Holly has figured it all out for us and organized an easy to use, state-by-state guide. I’m very proud to be an affiliate for such awesomeness.

I hope you enjoy Holly’s adventures at the farmers market as much as I did. And be sure to listen to the audio clip at the bottom of the post!

Farmers Market Update: South Beach (Pinecrest)

by Holly Hickman

Greetings from South Beach, or, as I like to call it, The Fanny Parade.

The locusts football fans are in town this week for the Super Bowl–otherwise known in Cocaine Cowboy Country as the Super Blow–and I am in need of escape. Normally, escaping from Miami simply requires that you grab your typical fanny parader off the street and use her as a human floatation device. (As I told Darya, she might live near Silicon Valley, but I live surrounded by Silicone Valleys.) However, our lovely ladies are busy partying, so I’m heading to my other –real– escape: the local farmers market.

You might think from the above paragraph that I do not love my adopted town. I do; I just like to tease it. And the great source of my love for this town is not the ocean or insistently happy weather or even the proximity to phenomenal Cuban coffee: it is, ladies and gents, the Pinecrest farmers market.

We have a number of markets here but Pinecrest, although a 30-minute drive from my house, is my go-to haven. My favorite farmers are all there: Margie Pikarsky of Redland Organics; resident goat whisperer Hani Khouri of Hani’s Organics; and Gabrielle Berryer of Gaby’s Farm.

Behold why they are my favorites:

Tomatoes from Margie's stand

If you’re reading this from Iowa, I am sorry. Those are–apologies again, this time to Darya–summer tomatoes. Only they burst forth in JANUARY ’round these parts. Yes! And go through about April. Yes. And Margie grows the best of them.

“Do you know the differences among all these?” she asked me.

Um, no.

“These are the green zebra. This is the Cherokee Purple, kind of a dusky rose. Ooh! Yellow Pear. And then these kind start off pale but will blush into a beautiful mahogany on your counter. Look at the the heirlooms. Beautiful, no?”

I bought two packs.

Farmer Margie & her nearly sold-out broccoli

This is Margie trimming her magical swirling broccoli. OK, so they only taste like magic.

“It’s because of the frost,” she said.  “Makes ‘em sweeter.”

Ka-ching!

She was also selling (clockwise from top left of main photo): freshly-dug potatoes and beets. (She digs beets.) Beautiful Florida avocado, which are not as creamy as the California kind, but which are as large as footballs and make a fine game-time guacamole. Local wild honey, assorted cabbages, herbs such as lemon grass and Syrian oregano (”the only kind”), turnips and luffa. Yes, for scrubbing your skin; it’s a plant that grows beautifully here in subrtropical climes. She also sells those mulit-colored carrots, plus Asian greens such as tatsoi (perfect for stir-fries), several kinds of organic Florida citrus and some gorgeous eggplant. Anything that grows well in Thailand grows well here.

I could spend all day at this stand, but I am hungry for falafel. Time to go see Hani and his wife, Mary Lee.

Hani and Mary Lee Khouri of Hanisorganics.com

Hani is the only goat farmer around, and, luckily for us, his goat milk, goat ice cream and goat cheese are all exquisite. That is why I call him the goat whisperer. He’s originally from Lebanon and sells Mediterranean delights such as fattoush (a pita and tomato salad that won’t make you fattoush); fool (a delightful legume-based dish which, again, won’t make you into one); and fantastic hummus and falafel.

Left from top: fattoush, fool & lupini beans

Hani made me a gorgeous falafel sandwich with his home-pickled turnips while I asked Mary Lee about their beautiful goat’s milk ice cream.  There was none, she said, because the goats are “kidding,” and she doesn’t want to take their milk. Sane and humane.

Hani Khouri makes sure Holly isn't cranky

So, no ice cream from Hani, but I know where I can get some: Gaby’s Farm.

The aptly named Gaby Berryer

Gabrielle Berryer is originally from Haiti and spent years working as a psychologist. One day, she decided to buy a farm south of Miami so that she could grow tropical fruits. And she does–oh how she does! Starfruit, canistel (a creamy, custardy fruit), mamey (which I wrote a post about, since I love it so) passion fruit and myriad other delights.

Gaby's Ice Creams

If you have never tasted any of these fruits, buy a ticket here. NOW. And then go see Gaby. She not only grows these delectable paens to tropical love; she makes ice cream out of them. People. Sit. They have a teensy bit of corn syrup in them to keep them creamy and give them good consistency, but other than that, they are perfect. You can find them at Whole Foods throughout the southeast, but I think she should go national.

Here’s a wee interview with my favorite farmers where we learn about kidding, tropical fruits, and why eating stone crabs is sustainable:

Holly at the South FL Farmers Market

And here is the result of my purchases–homemade pizza that we ate topped with an arugula salad, plus an eggplant/tomato riff on baba ganoush. Dessert? Gaby’s ice cream, of course. Darya, you must come to South Florida; they make the magic happen here. And I’m not talking about Mickey.

Dinner with my purchases

Purchases:

Redland Organics

• Tomatoes
• Eggplant
• Broccoli
• Arugula
• Salad Greens
• Asian Greens
• Kohlrabi
• Starfruit
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Savoy Cabbage

Hani’s Organics

• Fattoush salad
• Lupini beans — eat ‘em like peanuts
• Fool salad
• Falafel wrap

Gaby’s Farm

• Canistel Ice Cream

From Darya: Are any more of you holding out on me with winter tomatoes? Time to fess up!

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Tags: Holly Hickman, Miami, Pinecrest, South Beach

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Diets are dying, the faulty vaccine-autism paper was retracted and yet another study shows low-fat diets are bad for heart disease. Could this week get any better?

And in case you missed it, definitely check out the video of Michael Pollan’s talk at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

Links of the Week

• Eat, Drink & Be Healthy: Dieting vs. newer approaches to losing weight <<Is healthstyle catching on? Cross your fingers for the end of diets…. (The Washington Post)
• Vaccine-Autism Study Is Retracted <<BS of the week. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy this paper has been retracted. What I’m calling out is that it ever got published in the first place. This is an example of bad science that endangered children’s lives. How was this ever okay? (New York Times)
• The Miracle of Vitamin D: Sound Science, or Hype? <<I recommend taking vitamin D supplements, but that doesn’t stop me from being a skeptic. I still try to get enough from natural sources like sunlight and oily fish. (New York Times)
• Moderate-Fat Diet May Be Better at Reducing Heart Risks <<This is not news, but it is worth repeating. I love fat. Fatty, fat, fat. Here it goes down, down into my belly. (HealthDay)
• Corned beef for breakfast? Try it, you might lose weight <<The newest diet trend seems to be eating a big breakfast. This doesn’t involve deprivation, so I’m interested to see how it works for people. (Los Angeles Times)
• Eating Too Fast? <<Dr. Weil discusses a new study linking eating speed to hunger. This is just one more reason to learn to eat slowly and mindfully. You’ll enjoy your food more as well. (Dr. Weil’s Daily Blog)
• Reliable health information on the go <<One of my favorite resources for health information, Medline, now has a mobile version of their website. (Los Angeles Times)
• Sardines and Avocados <<I’m not the only skinny foodie out there. In fact, there are a bunch of us and we all pretty much do the same things to be healthy. We eat real food, we don’t shun fats, and we hit the gym. Allison Arevalo discusses food, body weight and Alton Brown (Local Lemons)
• Bound By Love and Honor. And Mayo. <<Love this broccoli crunch salad recipe (and philosophy) over at Matt Bites.
• Michael Pollan on Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual <<Michael Pollan recently spoke at my favorite farmers market about his new book, Food Rules. Here’s the video.

What inspired you this week?

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Tags: B.S. of the week, Body Weight, Breakfast, diets, Dr. Weil, fat, Michael Pollan, mindful eating, recipe, vitamin D

Photo by Werwin15

The science of aging is among the most dynamic and provocative in modern biology. Over the past two decades we have seen a virtual explosion in research investigating the molecular and behavioral systems that control the aging process. But the more researchers uncover about the science of aging, the more questions emerge.

Dietary restriction has long been considered the most potent regulator of aging. Restricting food intake by any means induces a series of metabolic changes in organisms from yeast to primates that serve to extend life. Studies are currently underway to investigate the ability of dietary restriction to extend life in humans.

Several biological changes are known to occur upon the onset of dietary restriction including a decline in reproductive ability, increased stress resistance and a slowdown of some metabolic processes.

Insulin signaling was among the first molecular pathways to be identified in the regulation of aging, and offered a direct tie between diet and the aging process.  In 1998 UCSF scientist Cynthia Kenyon showed that removing an insulin receptor gene (daf-2) in worms could double their lifespan. Her lab later showed that removing another insulin signaling gene (daf-16) could extend life even longer. I spoke to Kenyon about the relationship between diet and aging for this article.

Blocking insulin signaling in these worms did not just prevent the worms from dying and allow them to age longer. Instead the aging process actually slows so that older worms continue to behave like young worms. Also, as these experiments were repeated in different animals, it was shown that lowering insulin signaling also helps protect animals from stress and diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Insulin is released as a direct response to glucose in the blood. This means that any time you eat a meal with carbohydrates, you are increasing your insulin signaling and likely accelerating aging. But this does not mean that you will live forever if you stop eating carbohydrates.

Interestingly, protein metabolism also contributes to accelerated aging, but through a different mechanism. Even more intriguing is that restricting protein increases lifespan to a greater extent than restricting sugar.

So is it simply calories that promote aging?

Probably not. For one thing, the effect of a calorie from protein is greater than a calorie from carbohydrate, making it unlikely that a calorie is the basic unit of impact. Second, there is evidence that calories are not required to accelerate aging.

Recent studies have shown that the mere act of smelling food can reduce lifespan. The mechanism for this effect is still unknown, but seems to be tied to respiration.

According to Kenyon it is clear that “sensory perception influences lifespan,” at least in worms and flies.

Thus it is likely that aging is controlled by the interaction of several pathways, including metabolism, respiration and stress. Importantly, however, lifespan seems to be dependent on a handful of specific pathways rather than global changes in cellular function or breakdown. The idea that aging is an inevitable function of time must be put aside given the evidence that it is controlled at a genetic and environmental level.

This makes sense when you think about it. Different organisms exhibit vastly different lifespans and rates of aging that are too great to be explained by some kind of universal cellular breakdown. A more parsimonious hypothesis is that organisms differ in specific genetic factors that, combined with environmental influences, regulate lifespan.

So how should we mortal humans react to these findings?

The genes linking diet and aging are highly conserved through evolution, indicating that there is a great chance human aging is sensitive to diet. Indeed, insulin-related genes have been found to be important in long-lived human populations. This suggests that the pathways discovered in worms and other organisms have similar functions in humans.

What is not clear is how much influence diet has on lifespan and to what extent we are able to manipulate it. It is already known that abnormal insulin activity in humans is linked to higher disease rates, especially “diseases of civilization” such as heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and cancer. And these diseases are clearly associated with diets rich in processed foods, especially refined carbohydrates.

The effect of protein consumption on lifespan in humans has yet to be investigated. Envisioning an experiment that would test the influence of smelling food on human aging is difficult to even imagine.

Although direct evidence is not available, there is good reason to suspect that a diet with low glycemic load may extend human lifespan. In November 2009, Kenyon’s lab reported that adding glucose to a worm’s normal diet shortens lifespan, but has no effect on the long-lived worms that lack insulin signaling genes daf-2 and daf-16. This discovery prompted Kenyon herself to adopt a low-carbohydrate diet.

Despite this there is still not sufficient evidence to recommend a calorie restricted diet for humans to extend life, largely because optimal nutrition levels for a given individual are unknown. However, most people would benefit vastly by eliminating processed foods and refined carbohydrates from their diets as much as possible.

Focusing on fresh, whole foods, enjoying an occasional glass of wine, avoiding smoking and getting regular exercise can add 14 years to the life of an average person. Maintain a healthy weight as well and your outlook gets even better.

Would you change your diet to be healthier and live longer?

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Tags: aging, calorie restriction, carbs, Cynthia Kenyon, glycemic load, insulin, low-carb, protein, refined carbohydrates

Riley and Root Veggies

Today I am honored and humbled to have longtime friend and colleague Jennifer Freese share her healthstyle transition from not-so-healthy scientist to thriving new mother.

Jennifer was blessed (cursed?) with the gift of proximity. She sat in the desk and worked at the lab bench directly adjacent to mine for four years at UCSF. As a result she saw firsthand how I gleefully integrate healthy living into my freakishly busy schedule.

Jennifer’s story is the perfect example of how small, gradual and customized changes can transform your life. She started shopping at the farmers market so she could bring fresh produce to make beautiful salads at work (I’m famous for this in the lab). She started jogging regularly, although she swore she could never be a runner. She even switched a few meals a week from red meat to fish, despite her Midwestern roots!

Last year Jennifer had her first child, and is now imparting her healthy lifestyle to her new daughter. I’m thrilled to have her share her story with you.

Homemade Healthstyle: Lessons In Making Baby Food

by Jennifer Freese

I was lucky enough to work with Darya in the Pleasure Lab for four years. It’s hard not to be influenced by her passion for food and a healthy lifestyle. Not just the book recommendations and exercise tips, but watching her effortlessly practice habits which to me seemed impossible. Seeing her live and eat changed how I think about food.

Darya taught me about healthy eating and how to really integrate it into my life. I now love shopping at my local farmers’ market almost every Saturday. I fill my plate with vegetables and eat whole grains I had never even heard of before. Since I do the grocery shopping and a majority of the cooking for the house, my husband has necessarily upgraded his healthstyle as well. And now I’m passing this lifestyle on to the newest member of our family, my daughter Riley.

When my daughter was a few months old we went over to a friend’s house for dinner. I was stunned to see my friend whip open the cabinet and presented her toddler with mac n’ cheese (pop off the top and serve), a handful of yogurt melts (freeze dried yogurt), a banana, and toddler formula.

It was the most highly processed, colorless meal I’d ever seen.

That evening, I thought about how easy it is to go from the jarred pureed baby foods to the now popular grab-and-go toddler foods to adult TV dinners and fast foods. I vowed that when my daughter started solid foods I would do things very differently. I’d already toyed with the idea of making my own baby foods, but it seemed like a lot of work. However, I decided that shaping her tastes early with fresh foods was worth the effort.

Learning to cook for a baby required some research and planning. There are many opinions on how to introduce solid foods to babies and as a scientist I was compelled to read up on all the theories. I am happy to say that Riley enjoys most of the foods I’ve presented to her. In hindsight I think all the time I spent deciding what should come first–pears or peas–wasn’t worth the worry.

Most of the recipes for first foods for babies are the same: steam the fruit or vegetable until very tender, blend and serve. My husband gave me a fantastic gift for my 1^st Mother’s Day: the Beaba Babycook and the Cooking for Baby cookbook. The Babycook is a steamer/blender/defroster all in one that I use almost daily. The cookbook has given me recipe ideas beyond simple pureed foods, suggestions for tasty combinations and flavoring with spices and herbs.

Obviously making baby food takes more time than cracking open a jar. I have to plan ahead and make sure I’ve started steaming long before mealtime. Hungry babies do not wait patiently for dinner! I always make large quantities and put some in the fridge for the next few days and freeze the rest. I was surprised at how long it takes to measure out all those 2 oz portions. But once I make that time investment, my freezer is stocked and I have food ready to serve in the future.

Making my own baby food allows me to serve Riley a greater variety of foods and flavors. Roasted red peppers, cilantro and amaranth are not typical on the ingredients list of jarred baby foods. My hope is that this early exposure to a greater variety of foods will help her keep an open mind about food in the future (although I’m sure she’ll go through picky phases like all kids). For now she is growing and thriving and that tells me my time is well spent.

The affirmation that I was doing the right thing came on a camping trip when Riley was 8 months old. I brought some homemade food, but I also took along a few commercial jars. Yes, sometime convenience is really nice, especially in the woods without my Babycook!

It seemed like a good idea until I opened the jar of peas. Unlike my vibrantly colored homemade peas, these were gray and didn’t smell right. Not wanting to influence Riley I disguised my doubts and put a spoonful in her mouth. She completely rejected them.

Not only would she not eat the jarred peas, she wouldn’t eat fresh peas for two weeks. I guess they had lost her trust.

I have since tried some other jarred foods (now I sample everything before I give it to her) and truth is, they just don’t taste like their fresh counterparts. How can we expect a toddler to enjoy fresh green beans when all they’ve had is processed pureed green beans that taste nothing like the real thing?

My experience with Riley is that she enjoys what is served but is reluctant to accept change. I’d much rather she enjoy freshly prepared fruits and veggies and reject the processed food.

Don’t get me wrong though, we’re not only about healthy eating. For Riley’s first birthday I plan to stick an entire mini cake in front of her and let her go at it. But since I will make the cake myself, I feel better knowing every ingredient that is going in her mouth, on her face, in her hair, and on the floor!

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Tags: baby food, guests