My Life in a Pyramid

Eating in Color: Green & Leafy with a Splash of Red

June 23, 2010 in Dinner

This week I’m visiting my family on the east coast, where it’s literally inching its way up to 100 degrees outside! So, it’s pretty much impossible to run or do any physical activity outside (besides tan maybe ). To keep up my workouts, I am resorting to using the exercise equipment in the basement… which is not ideal. But, I gotta do what I gotta do to stay fit, right?

The good news is that I get to eat a lot of salad when I’m home. My family eats a huge plate of salad as a main course before (a much smaller) dinner, which is a great habit that I adopted when I got married. As Sherif mentioned in his post on salad a few weeks ago, not all salads are created equal. Conventionally grown lettuce (which has a lot of pesticides) mixed with a bunch of processed croûtons and heavy salad dressing doesn’t qualify as healthy eating in my book. Salad should be made of up organic vegetables that are tasty and colorful… (and one should definitely skip the artifical dressing and opt for a homemade one instead!)

Health-conscious people and groups talk about eating organic, local, and in season. I think it’s important to also talk about the importance of eating in color. Did you know that eating a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables is a guaranteed way to give your body all the different vitamins and minerals that it needs? I can hear some of you thinking out loud: “But what does color have to do with vitamins?” Or some others (who may not know much about healthy foods) could be saying: “Does that mean that candy or flavored beverages with added “vitamins” can give the same effect?” The short answer is no, of course not.

Now, here’s the long answer. The natural plant pigments that give color to fruits and vegetables are indicative of the different vitamins that are contained within:

Red fruits and veggies – such as red apples, tomatoes, beets, red cabbage, cherries, red potatoes, watermelon, etc – contain the pigment called lycopene, which has been found to help reduce the risk of a few different types of cancer, and especially prostate cancer (NDSU).
Yellow fruits and veggies - such as sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, persimmons, squash, etc – contain the pigmant called carotenoids, which is converted to Vitamin A in the body – an essential vitamin for healthy eyes and normal mucous membranes. “Scientists have also reported that carotenoid-rich foods can help reduce risk of cancer, heart disease and can improve immune system function” (NDSU).
White fruits and veggies - garlic, ginger, potatoes, mushrooms, bananas, turnips, etc – contain the pigmant anthoxanthin. Some contain the chemical allicin which lowers cholesterol and blood pressure (NDSU).
Green fruits and veggies are colored with the pigmant chlorophyll. Some greens, such as spinach, green peppers, peas and cucumbers also contain lutein, which also keeps eyes healthy. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower help protect against cancer (NDSU).
Blue/Purple fruits and veggies - such as eggplant, blueberries, blackberries, purple grapes, plums, etc – are colored by the natural pigment called anthocyanin, which contains powerful antioxidants that protect against cell damage (NDSU).

Here’s an example of a colorful salad we had a couple of times in the past few weeks:Beet Red Salad on a Bed of Green

The vibrant color of the beets in this salad definitely catches the eye! Beets have amazing cancer-fighting properties, protect against heart disease and reduce inflammation (WH Foods). This purple-crimson color is one of my favorites in the world of raw foods…

This salad is made up of kale, avocados, spinach, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, and raw (not candied) pecans. Dressing consists of extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice, black pepper, and crumbles of grass-fed goat cheese:

We made this salad for a couple who came over for dinner a few weeks ago, and they loved it!

Another interesting salad we recently put together: “Colored” Greens

Did you get the play on words? There is such a thing as collard greens though, which is a family of green vegetables that includes swiss chard, cabbage, and broccoli. In terms of nutritional value, “collards are good sources of vitamin C (only when eaten raw, because heat destroys vitamin C) and soluble fiber and contain multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties, such as diindolylmethane and sulforaphane” (Wikipedia).

This salad is made up of swiss chard, red dandelion, roma tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh mint, green onions and pecans. Dressing was again a simple extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice combo. The fresh mint is always fantastic, but the red dandelion was a bit bitter for my taste. It was my first time trying the swiss chard, and it tasted great!

Have you ever thought about food in terms of color? What interesting salad combinations have you tried putting together?

Indian Curry Cauliflower and Potatoes (Aloo Gobi) and Fish Curry!

April 24, 2010 in Dinner

Woohoo! It’s the weekend!

To celebrate the start of another fun weekend, I decided to make Indian food today (we love Indian food!). I had bought organic cauliflower from Whole Foods when I went grocery shopping earlier this week, so I wanted to cook it while it was still fresh. I remembered eating delicious “aloo gobi” on several occasions, which is the Hindi term for the dish, which is made of curry cauliflower with potatoes. I had all the ingredients for this meal at home, so I decided to give it a shot. For the protein part of the meal (Sherif always asks about the protein), I decided to make a complimentary fish curry.

Cauliflower, a cruciferous vegetable, is super healthy: one cup has over 90% of the daily recommended dose of Vitamin C, almost 15% of Vitamin K, folate, dietary fiber, and Vitamin B6, and a host of other vitamins and minerals. Additionally, since it is a cruciferous vegetable, cauliflower contains compounds that can help prevent cancer:

New research has greatly advanced scientists’ understanding of just how cruciferous vegetables help prevent cancer. When these vegetables are cut, chewed or digested, a sulfur-containing compound called sinigrin is brought into contact with the enzyme myrosinase, resulting in the release of glucose and breakdown products, including highly reactive compounds called isothiocyanates. Isothiocyanates are not only potent inducers of the liver’s Phase II enzymes, which detoxify carcinogens, but research recently conducted at the Institute for Food Research in the U.K. shows one of these compounds, allyl isothicyanate, also inhibits mitosis (cell division) and stimulates apoptosis (programmed cell death) in human tumor cells (WH Foods).

Is that amazing or what!? In recent years, several scientific studies have shown that cauliflower and other cruciferous plants inhibit the growth of breast, prostate, colorectal, and bladder cancer. One study that I found especially striking found that “men who ate more than a serving of either broccoli or cauliflower each week almost halved their risk of developing advanced-stage prostate cancer” (WH Foods). In fact, “Prostate cancer – the second leading cause of cancer death in American men with 500,000 new cases appearing each year – is a rare occurrence among men in India, whose low risk is attributed to a diet rich in Brassica family vegetables and the curry spice, turmeric” (WH Foods). So, turmeric (containing the nutrient curcumin) and cauliflower have been found to be one of the best anti-cancer food combinations!

Without further ado, here are the recipes for these fabulous Indian dishes:

Ingredients for the Vegetarian Curry Cauliflower and Potato Dish (Aloo Gobi):

This recipe will make 4-5 servings (because I used the entire cauliflower for this meal):

1 organic cauliflower head, chopped
1 cup water or organic chicken broth, preferably homemade if using broth
1 yellow onion, diced
3 potatoes, peeled and diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
fresh ginger, chopped
fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup curry powder (has to include turmeric)
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons grass-fed ghee or coconut oil
lime juice, to taste
2-3 bay leaves, crushed
salt & pepper, to taste
optional: 2-5 hot chili pepper flakes

Directions:

Dice onion and crush 3-4 cloves of garlic and sauté together in coconut oil or ghee on medium-high heat until onion is translucent and starting to brown.
Peel and dice potatoes. Add to onions and sauté for a 3 minutes.
Add chicken broth or water. Simmer for 10 minutes, until potatoes are cooked halfway.
Chop cauliflower and add to pot. Mix well.
Add curry powder, cumin, ginger, bay leaves, and salt & pepper, and stir. Optional: add 2-5 individual flakes if you like spicy food (I know they’re tiny, but their effect is really strong!).
Chop cilantro and add to mix.
Squeeze some fresh lime juice, mix well, and serve hot!

Now, for the fish curry, here’s what you’ll need:

2 wild-caught fish filets (makes 2 servings)
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 yellow onion, diced
1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
fresh ginger, chopped
fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder (has to include turmeric)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
a tablespoon of ghee or coconut oil
lime juice
1-2 bay leaves, crushed
salt & pepper, to taste
optional: 2-5 hot chili pepper flakes (I decided to skip this for the fish; I figured one spicy dish was enough for the night ).

Directions:

Thaw fish for 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Dice 1/4 onion and crush 1-2 cloves of garlic and sauté together in coconut oil or ghee on medium-high heat until onion is translucent and starting to brown.
Add coconut milk, cilantro, and ginger, and bay leaves and stir on medium heat.
Add curry powder, cumin, and salt & pepper. Bring to a slow boil.
Place fish filets in a pyrex dish. Pour coconut curry sauce on top.
Squeeze lime juice on top and drizzle with coconut oil.
Bake on 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Optional: Broil for 5 minutes to brown the top.
Serve hot, with brown rice if desired.