Shelley Goldbeck

August 30, 2013October 4, 2013

Borscht

1/2 lb beef stew meat

½ tsp sea salt (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

2 Tbsp oil (coconut, olive)

2 cloves minced garlic

1 cup diced onions

1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

1 cup chopped cabbage

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup diced potatoes

1 handful fresh dill stalks, flowers, and leaves

sour cream or yogurt

1 cup chopped canned or stewed tomatoes with juice

1&1/2 lb cooked, peeled and diced beets

Saute first seven ingredients in a large pot until onion is tender and meat is brown. Cover with 6 to 10 cups water. Simmer for 2 to 4 hours or until meat is falling-apart tender. Stir in cabbage, carrots and potatoes; cook 15 minutes. Add beets, dill, tomatoes and enough water to cover. Simmer for 15 to 30 minutes.

Remove large stalks of dill. Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt.

Vegan: This meal in a bowl can easily be prepared without the meat and served with a bit of coconut milk.

August 30, 2013September 5, 2013

Canola Con: 7 reasons to Avoid Canola Oil

Canola Oil is often touted as a healthy oil. This is one of the great health myths perpetuated by vested interests.

Personally, I avoid canola oil. I don’t cook with it and I don’t buy anything that lists canola as an ingredient. This policy eliminates much processed and restaurant food from my diet. I don’t even give canola to my dog. (She gets olive oil, fish oil and coconut oil.)

Here are seven reasons to avoid canola oil.

1. Canola is a genetically modified organism. Canola is almost always genetically modified. GMO may seem like a smart idea but there is evidence that splicing genes from unrelated species could have disastrous effects on our health.

Little testing has been done. GMO companies’ tests rarely last longer than three months. GMOs and their effects are forever in the system, our bodies, as well as the food system. We’re all supposed to assume that nothing is amiss, that GMOs are no different from other foods. If that’s true why do they grant patents on GMOs?

I know that the government, big agriculture and the big food companies cannot be entrusted with my health. So to be prudent, I avoid GMOs as much as possible. (This is why I want GMO labeling).

2. Canola contributes to the poisoning of our environment. Canola is highly engineered so it can withstand repeated dousings of glyphosate (RoundUp), sprayed on canola and other crops to kill weeds.

Glyphosate is showing up in water supplies at several times the “safe” level. In fact, California recently raised the official “safe” level of glyphosate exposure, from parts per billion to parts per million (a thousand-fold increase!) not because it’s safe but because that’s what’s in the water and they really don’t know what to do about it!

RoundUp, a Monsanto product, is detectable in soil, water and food virtually everywhere on earth. None of us can escape this film of poison draped over the planet.

Glyphosate, in parts per billion (ppb) is known to alter DNA in humans. With RoundUp levels now measured and supposedly regulated in ppm we need to brace ourselves for the mass mutation of the human species. We wonder why cancer rates have burgeoned!

In addition to DNA damage, RoundUp’s ubiquitous reach and overuse has spawned superweeds, organisms that no longer respond to normal applications of RoundUp, requiring ever-increasing doses of this deadly drug.

I prefer not to be responsible for the pollution of our water, air and soil. I prefer not to contribute to cancer via my consumption of products that are known carcinogens. One way is to avoid products that are routinely raised with RoundUp. Canola is one of the biggest offenders.

http://www.naturalnews.com/041464_glyphosate_monsanto_toxicity.html

3. Canola is actually inedible. Canola started out as rapeseed. Rapeseed oil was used as fuel in diesel engines. In fact, Rudolph Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine used vegetable oil diesel (often made from rapeseed) long before petroleum-based diesel became commonly used as fuel.

4. Canola is processed with dry-cleaning fluid. Someone got the brilliant idea that with modification, canola could serve a whole new market as a food product. Early canola oil used to stink like rotten fish. I remember my mom trying it once and the smell of it cooking gagged us.

To remove the stench, one of the required processes is “washing” canola oil in hexane, a solvent used in the dry cleaning business. Personally I am suspect of food products that are exposed to solvents and other harsh chemicals. I was taught as a child that solvents are generally unsafe to consume. I can barely stand the smell of freshly dry-cleaned clothes; how could I possibly eat them?

5. Canola oil is not organic! Don’t be fooled by the labels. Canola oil is never organic. It is a genetically modified organism, raised with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and processed with dry cleaning fluid. Every one of those disqualifies it as an organic food.

6. Canola oil tastes terrible. Hexane may remove the stench but the bitter taste remains. I’ve accidently bought hummus made with canola instead of olive oil and it’s bitter and inedible. I turned a friend onto baklava, usually made with butter and/or olive oil. She bought some that was bitter and disgusting and couldn’t understand why. The label revealed it was made with canola.

7. Canola oil is not as healthy as they claim. The health claims pertaining to canola are based largely on the theory that saturated fats cause heart disease, which we must question. Per capita consumption of saturated fats is down over 30 years yet heart disease ravages our society.

Canola does contain Omega 3 and 6 fats, in a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio, depending on processing method and the source of information. The recommended ratio of omega 3 to 6 fatty acids is one to one. The average North American has a 1:20 ratio! Too many Omega 6 fatty acids cause inflammation, which is implicated in many modern chronic illnesses. While canola can help balance too many omega 6 fats, I prefer to get my Omega 3’s from other sources.

Canola has a high flash point making it popular for deep-frying, which is dangerous for one’s health. The frying of proteins and carbohydrates in fats creates many carcinogens and contributes to obesity and heart disease.

Admittedly, there is nothing prettier than driving through a patchwork quilt of crops emboldened by brilliant yellow fields of canola. So many farmers grow this crop that canola fields in bloom are almost synonymous with being a farmer on the Canadian prairie. Unfortunately hollow health claims cannot change the fact that canola, far from being a health food, is actually an Unfood.

A Google search of Omega Fatty Acids or Omega Oils reveals many interesting and educational sites. Here are a few I found.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratio_of_fatty_acids_in_different_foods

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid

http://omega6.wellwise.org/omega-6-omega-3-ratio

http://chriskresser.com/how-too-much-omega-6-and-not-enough-omega-3-is-making-us-sick

August 26, 2013September 4, 2013

You Can’t Beat Beets

Despite their relatively high sugar content (for a vegetable), many people claim to not like beets. That’s too bad because beets are considered a superfood contributing to our health in many ways.

Here are just some of the reasons beets are healthy:

Beets have recently been found to increase stamina during exercise by 16 percent.

Beets are high in fiber, potassium, magnesium, niacin, calcium, iron, and biotin. They are a high source of phytonutrients, which provide strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support.

Beets help lower blood pressure, maintain blood vessel elasticity, and even help eliminate varicose veins. In fact in some studies beet juice is as effective as high blood pressure medication without the awful side effects.

Beets contain lutein and zeaxanthin, both of which help prevent or even cure macular degeneration and other age related eye issues.

Beets and their leaves are a high source of folate, which is the natural base of folic acid. Folate helps build tissue and red blood cells. Folic acid is a vital nutrient for pregnant women to ensure proper fetal development.

Beets help cleanse the blood and create more red blood cells. They are useful for treating and curing anemia. Heavy daily beet consumption has even been used to treat leukemia and other cancers. In the 1950’s, Dr. Ferenczi of Csoma, Hungary used beets exclusively to break up tumors in the body. He had considerable success, and tumors were often completely eliminated. Everyone can benefit from beets’ anti-carcinogenic properties by eating beets regularly.

Beet juice helps stimulate liver cells and cleanse and protect bile ducts. It also helps relieve the kidneys of stress to help cure gout. Beets are also useful in preventing constipation.

Beet juice is alkaline and helps stave off acidosis, a suspected factor in many diseases. Beets can also be used to help detoxify the body.

Raw beets offer the most complete nutrients. Beets can be shredded over salads or juiced. They can be boiled, roasted or barbecued. They can be sliced or diced and tossed into soup, otherwise known as borscht. The tops are similar to spinach and can be eaten raw or steamed and served with butter and lemon juice.

Beets are easy to grow in the garden, requiring little care but providing great reward.

Adding beets to your diet is a great way to beat a variety of health problems.

Borscht – Shelley Goldbeck

1/2 lb beef stew meat

½ tsp sea salt (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

2 Tbsp oil (coconut, olive)

2 cloves minced garlic

1 cup diced onions

1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

1 cup chopped cabbage

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup diced potatoes

1 handful fresh dill stalks, flowers, and leaves

sour cream or yogurt

1 cup chopped canned or stewed tomatoes with juice

1&1/2 lb cooked, peeled and diced beets

Remove large stalks of dill. Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt.

Vegan: This meal in a bowl can easily be prepared without the meat and served with a bit of coconut milk.

August 21, 2013August 11, 2014

Chocomole – Chocolate Avocado Pudding

My family is deeply affected by certain foods. We have gluten sensitivity, diary allergies, and we are careful about processed food including anything with sugar in it.

As a result birthday parties and other family celebrations require careful planning. We can’t just buy a cake and our traditional family recipes need to be significantly modified.

We are learning to think about food differently. Why do we need cake to celebrate? Shouldn’t we celebrate with the nutrition of whole real food?

Last evening we celebrated my daughter’s birthday with a family dinner. I was charged with bringing dessert.

As I have avoided sugar since the Christmas chocolate and goodies ran out in early January, I wasn’t thrilled about bringing a cake, imposing that unhealthy item on my health-conscious family. Even a gluten-free dairy-free cake needs sugar to make it palatable.

I had read about making chocolate pudding out of avocado and I wanted to try it for the party. I found numerous recipes online and I decided to create my own using those recipes as a guideline.

I have to say, I really outdid myself. My youngest grandtoy, J____, licked her bowl clean and then eyed the two extra servings on the platter. When Mommy said no, J____ was choked. Peace was restored when I told her I had brought the extras so she and her sister could take them for lunch the next day.

Chocomole is creamy (because of all of that healthy avocado fat). The maple syrup sweetens it without all the harmful effects of white sugar. The antioxidants of the dark chocolate are preserved because they’re not heated.

In my opinion Chocomole is better than conventional chocolate pudding: no “cow” aftertaste and mucous buildup in my throat that I usually get when I eat dairy products.

I’ve been thinking about how I can use avocado to make other “puddings”. (If you have ideas, do share!)

Nobody would ever guess that this dessert is actually good for them. I urge you to try it for yourself.

Bon appetit!

My Chocolate Avocado Pudding “Chocomole”

adapted by Shelley Goldbeck from four recipes

4 avocados, ripe and soft
½ cup coconut milk (or almond/rice milk)
1 ounce of dark chocolate (72% or higher), high quality, dairy-free, melted
2 heaping Tbsp. high quality cocoa powder or to taste (you may use all cocoa if you don’t have
- dark chocolate squares)
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
pinch Himalayan sea salt
¼ to ¾ cup maple syrup, to taste. (Or honey or agave; I expect you would need less of these).
(I add sweetener last, in increments, to avoid making it too sweet).

Portions depend on the size of the avocados. I used medium. Process until smooth, occasionally scraping down sides. Taste and add more cocoa powder, required. Add more sweetener, to taste, and milk, if you’d like it looser. Divide between serving cups and serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to serve. Keeps in fridge 24 hours. Make 8 to 10 ½ cup servings.

Garnish with fresh berries or toasted almonds.

August 21, 2013August 21, 2013

Vitamin D, The Sunshine Vitamin

Brace yourself for an onslaught of news about and admonitions to be vaccinated for the flu. Recent reports indicate that this year’s flu vaccination includes protection against H1N1 but in all likelihood, H1N1 will be a non-issue. Flu vaccination manufacturers simply guess at which strains of the flu might be prevalent each season and they are reportedly accurate less than 30% of the time.

Are you interested in having a higher degree of protection from the flu and enjoying other health benefits as well? Look no farther than Vitamin D. Here are some facts:

Vitamin D is misnomer; it is actually a hormone produced by the skin upon exposure to sunlight, specifically ultraviolet B rays. For years, humans spent a huge portion of their time in the sun but recently we’ve almost all become deficient in this miracle substance, largely because we’ve been made afraid of the sun. If we do venture out, we are slathered in sunscreen, which keeps out harmful rays but actually reduces our ability to manufacture Vitamin D by as much as 95%. Small wonder modern diseases have such a stranglehold on our population.

Sunlight exposure is the only reliable way to generate vitamin D in your body; therefore it is sometimes called the Sunshine Vitamin. It takes about 15 to 30 minutes of sun exposure for our bodies to manufacture all the Vitamin D we need to have optimum health. The darker one’s skin and the higher one’s latitude on the planet, the lower the effectiveness of our Vitamin D “factory”. Our bodies will shut down the factory once we have manufactured about 20,000 iu of this hormone, therefore it’s impossible to overdose. There is evidence that tanning beds can mimic the sun’s ability to facilitate Vitamin D production; readers are cautioned to use them sensibly.

Vitamin D is vital to keep our immune systems functioning. That is why it is effective at warding off the flu. Last year my doctor surprised me by advising me to supplement my diet with 2000 iu per day to avoid the flu. (Doctors are generally not prone to providing information on nutrients, hence my shock).

Vitamin D is also effective at preventing a myriad of modern diseases including heart disease, various types of cancer, diabetes, schizophrenia, depression and osteoporosis. (Many people think calcium prevents osteoporosis but in studies where calcium was supplemented without Vitamin D, the calcium was ineffective).

In fact, the recent prevalence of these diseases can be attributed in part to our Vitamin D deficiency.

32% of doctors and med school students are vitamin D deficient.
40% of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient.
48% of young girls (9-11 years old) are vitamin D deficient.
Up to 60% of all hospital patients are vitamin D deficient.
76% of pregnant mothers are severely vitamin D deficient, causing widespread vitamin D deficiencies in their unborn children, which predisposes them to type 1 diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia later in life.
Up to 80% of nursing home patients are vitamin D deficient.

The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of Vitamin D is a mere 400 iu. Remember, RDA’s were designed as nominal doses, the least amount required to sustain minimal health and prevent such diseases as rickets, a softening of bones in children, potentially leading to fractures and deformity. Some experts say we need as much as 10,000 iu per day.

Vitamin D is activated in our bodies by our kidneys and liver. Having kidney disease or liver damage can greatly impair one’s ability to activate circulating vitamin D. Obesity also impairs vitamin D utilization in the body, meaning obese people need twice as much vitamin D.

Vitamin D is found in some food products including oily fish like salmon, mackerel and sardines, fish liver oils, eggs, liver, and mushrooms. Dairy products are routinely fortified with Vitamin D but you have to drink ten tall glasses of vitamin D fortified milk each day just to get minimum levels of vitamin D. Skim milk and other low-fat dairy products reduce the absorption of Vitamin D because it is a fat-soluble nutrient, requiring fat to be transported through the body.

It is nearly impossible to get adequate amounts of vitamin D from your diet and unfortunately most manufacturers fortify foods with the synthetic version, D2. Our bodies most effectively use the natural version, D3. If you purchase supplements look for D3 or cholecalciferol; some experts advise buying gel caps instead of tablets. Vitamin D supplements are relatively inexpensive.

I urge you to consider supplementing your diet with Vitamin D, particularly in the fall and winter. If you get a chance to take a winter vacation to a sunny locale, leave the sunscreen in your bag until you’ve been out for half an hour or so. Midday sun is most damaging so if you avoid exposure between 10AM and 2PM, you may be able to dispense with sunscreen altogether.

By the way, I took my doctor’s advice and I had no colds or flu last year and I didn’t have to stand in line for a flu shot. I recently added Vitamin D to my regimen of supplements for this season and I hope to take a couple of winter escapes to soak up some sun.

Sources for this article include Wikipedia and Natural News, which has over 300 articles related to Vitamin D. It’s interesting reading that is sure to bolster your health.

http://naturalnews.com/Vitamin_D.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_d

August 21, 2013August 21, 2013

Amazing Avocado

Avocados are considered a superfood but mainstream media has vilified avocados because of their high fat, and therefore high calorie, content. Denmark included avocados on their list of high-fat, therefore highly taxed, foods. They might have a point if food were only about calories but it’s not.

Avocados can boost your health in numerous ways.

Sure avocados are high in fat but all fats are not equal. Like olive oil, the fat in avocados boosts levels of HDL (“good” cholesterol). HDL’s help regulate triglycerides, preventing diabetes. A recent study found that avocados can reduce LDL’s (bad cholesterol) as effectively as statin drugs.

Avocados provide all 18 essential amino acids necessary for the body to form a complete protein, making avocado a perfect vegetarian/vegan source of protein. The protein in an avocado is more easily digestible than a steak.

Avocados contain a diverse range of carotenoids including, beta-carotene, alpha carotene and lutein, and numerous lesser-known but still important phytonutrients. Carotenoids deliver high-quality vitamin A to your body and enhance immune-system and reproductive system function.

Avocados can help prevent osteo and rheumatoid arthritis because of the powerful ant-inflammatory benefits of the combination of Vitamins C and E, carotenoids, selenium, zinc, and omega 3 fatty acids.

Oleic acid is the primary fatty acid in avocados. Studies have shown that oleic acid improves cardiovascular health.

Avocados have 35% more potassium than bananas. They are rich in folic acid and vitamin K, and are good dietary sources of vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E and pantothenic acid. Avocados have a high fiber content of 75% insoluble and 25% soluble fiber.

One of the most famous iterations of avocado is in guacamole, which is easy to prepare. Mash a ripe avocado with the juice of half a lemon, a chopped green onion, a clove of minced garlic, salt, pepper and cumin to taste. Use as a sandwich spread or as a dip for raw veggies.

Two of my avocado recipes include: Nasturtium Salad and Chocomole.

I urge you to include avocado in your diet.

www.naturalnews.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=5

August 21, 2013August 11, 2014

Nasturtium Salad

In medium bowl, mix together:

1 avocado peeled and cut into ½” (1.5 cm) cubes
1 large (or 2 small) tomatoes, cut into ½” cubes
3 chopped green onions
½ long English cucumber, remove seeds and chop into 1 cm pieces
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
½ cup pine nuts
¼ cup washed Nasturtium petals (optional)*

Add dressing:

¼ c extra virgin olive oil
juice of half lemon
1 small clove or ½ large clove minced garlic
1 tsp seasoning, your choice. I have used:
- Victorian Epicure “Spanish” (original flavour of this salad)
- Victorian Epicure “Herbes de Province”
- Mix of basil and oregano

Marinate for half hour (on the counter: tomatoes are best at room temperature)

*Nasturtiums are very easy to grow and they keep certain bad bugs away from your garden. The petals and leaves are edible. I only recommend eating home grown, organic flowers. They add a subtle but spicy tang to the taste of this salad but it’s still great without. Nasturtiums also make very pretty bouquets as they come in a variety of colours and patterns from pale yellow to pumpkin orange to fire truck red. They’re perfect for the dinner table because they have short stems; you can easily see over the flowers.

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