Dragon Fruit Chia Seed Pudding

Tags

anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, b complex, calcium, chia seeds, dragon fruit, fall, Food, fruit smoothie, health, late summer, pudding, vitamin c, yogurt

Tis now the season for dragon fruit, and what better way to ward off the feeling of gloom with the cold weather by enjoying a tropical fruit! Dragon fruit is a less known superfood with great anti-inflammatory benefit, rich in antioxidants, Vitamin C, B complex, along with iron and calcium.

There are two main types of dragon fruit, the white-flesh ones and the red-flesh ones. While the white-flesh are the most common, I prefer the red-flesh kind for the dramatic pink color. Dragon fruits have similar texture to a kiwi, but taste more in between a watermelon and a pear.

One way I like to enjoy them is in a chia seed pudding. See my recipe below.

Ingredients: 

Dragon fruit chia seed pudding

• 1/2 cup almond or soy milk
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 3 tablespoons of chia seeds
• 1 dragon fruit, chopped
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut the dragon fruit in half, then use a knife to slide off the skin (similar to how you would with a watermelon, except the dragon fruit skin is more delicate).
2. In a medium bowl, gently whisk the soymilk, yogurt, and half of the dragon fruit in a mixer/blender until smooth blended.
3. Pour the yogurt mixture into a cup, then whisk in the chia seeds until they are evenly distributed.
4. Cover and refrigerate x3 hours or overnight.
5. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of agave or honey into the mixture.
6. Add the rest of the cut dragon fruit on top and serve.
7. Optional: you can also toss few granolas or sliced almonds on top before serving.

-NZ

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Making Ghee From Scratch

Tags

ayurveda, cooking, Food, ghee, gluten-free, health, healthy, nutrition, receipe, recipe, vegetarian

Seive through a strainer. Hubby helped with this

Frying is generally bad for you – example: frying unsaturated oils leads to the production of trans-fats which can contribute to cardiovascular disease, frying carbohydrates leads to the production of acrylamides & glycidamides which are carcinogenic, and frying proteins causes the production of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can contribute to cancer and are one of the reasons processed meats are considered a contributor to cancer by the WHO.

So why do I suggest frying spices might be a good idea? When spices are slowly cooked in a tempering oil, the aromatic compounds, which are better drawn out by oil as they fat soluble, are released into the oil. When cooking, these aromatic compounds suspended in oil are better able to permeate the dish so that we taste and smell cumin, garlic, ginger, mustard seeds, and curry leaves leading to the sensory experience that is characteristic of Indian food.

Why ghee? Ghee has been used in Ayurveda for millenia as a food, a vehicle for herbs (it is a fat so it helps absorption of fat soluble medicinal compounds), and for home remedies. When I was growing up and no one was supposed to eat any fat, everyone stopped putting ghee in their food. I tell my family, friends and patients who are South Asian to continue to cook their spices in ghee and flavor their foods with it. Why? Because I would rather they enjoy half a teaspoon of ghee and to flavor their foods and cut the huge amounts of white rice, white flour, and sugar that South Asians tend to indulge in. Also, ghee is a stable oil with a higher smoke point, and cooking olive oil to high temperatures necessary to cook Indian spices for tempering may not be as safe as unsaturated fats can become harmful when they oxidize, and even become harmful trans fatty acids. The nutritional community has decided for sure that trans-fats are certainly worse than saturated fat. And yes, ghee has saturated fat, but if you plan to put as little as 1 tablespoon of ghee in a large portion of cooked vegetable, then you might as well do things the traditional way, especially if theoretically you are creating harmful trans fats by frying unsaturated olive oil.

Ghee is easily available in Indian grocery stores and online nowadays. I am particularly fond of a couple of different brands. Pure brand is a good one, and I recently discovered Eat Good Fat brand ghee. Both are grassfed and organic, and taste really fresh. I tend to trust organic valley and they have started making ghee as well, but I have not tried their ghee. So why make ghee? Because no matter how good the brand you buy, fresh ghee tastes the best. It is also MUCH cheaper to make the ghee than to buy all of the above brands I quoted to you and it lasts a really long time.

Below are step by step instructions on how to make ghee with pictures. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 sticks of butter – I use grassfed butter, preferrably from a farm.

Recipe

1. Turn the stove to medium, put 3 sticks of butter in a pot and place on the stove. Wait for the butter to melt and then boil. The boiling goes through 2 stages. The first time it boils, you end up with a white precipitate.
2. With the second boiling point, you start to see a film of proteins build up on the top and then the ghee boils again. As soon as the precipitate starts to turn brown, turn off the stove and take the ghee off the stove.
3. When the ghee stops boiling, you will see brown precipitate at the bottom. This is very much edible, but NOT healthy for you – my husband’s family mixes a spoon of sugar with it. It tastes amazingly deliciously unhealthy.
4. Sieve the ghee through a cheese cloth, and its done! I have pictures below for each step. Enjoy!

Boiling point number 1

Precipitate number 1

Boiling point number 2 with the film developing at the top

Precipitate number 2. This is the point at which you turn off the stove

When you stop the stove and the boiling stops, this is what you see!

Seive through a strainer. Hubby helped with this

Deliciously unhealthy part – look at the spoon

 

 

 

Why Eat Fermented Foods?

Tags

digestive health, fermented foods, food as medicine, health, kimchi, miso, natural probiotic, pickles, probiotics, wellness

Fermented foods help to support digestion and immunity in our gut. Not only is our digestive tract the largest part of immune system, it also has neurotransmitters that control our mood and energy level.

Fermented foods are natural probiotics, which can be helpful with everything from allergies to dermatitis to irritable bowel syndrome. The yeast in fermented foods help to breakdown the food, enabling our body to better absorb important nutrients. It also removes unhealthy toxins and kills harmful bacteria.

Beware of commercial fermented products, which often lack the live culture needed for the health benefits due to use of pasteurization and other quality control procedures. Below are some examples of healthy fermented foods.

1. Home-made pickles. You can pickle anything from cucumbers to beets (more on that in future blog entries).
2. Miso
3. Kimchi, which is a traditional pickled spicy cabbage, common in Korean foods.
4. Pu-Erh tea
5. Kombucha tea, a fermented, sweetened black tea traditionally from China.
6. Sauerkraut, a fermented sliced cabbage dish, originally from Germany.

How do you enjoy your fermented foods? We would love to hear from you!

-NZ

Brewing Pu-Erh Tea

Tags

beverages, brewing tea, chinese tea, cholesterol lowering, digestive, drinks, fermented food, fermented tea, health, hyperlipidemia, pu erh tea, tea

In my miso entry, I mentioned some health benefits of fermented foods. While there are many commonly eaten fermented foods (more on that in my later entries), the easiest way to add fermented foods into your diet is in the form of a beverage. Pu-Erh tea is a great fermented drink option.

Pu-Erh is one of my favorite Asian teas. Produced in the Yunnan province in southwest China, it has a strong flavor, dark color and contains less caffeine than most teas. The tea leaves are picked early, dried, then fermented for  10-20 years. As with wine, the tea’s value and flavor increases with a longer aging period.

Pu-Erh teas are prized in China for their health benefits. In addition to improving digestion, studies have shown that drinking Pu-Erh daily lowers cholesterol in patients with hyperlipidemia.

Here are a few tips for brewing Pu-Erh Tea:

• Make sure the temperature of the boiling water is around 212 degree Fahrenheit.
• Wet and rinse the tea leaves with boiling water before the first brew.
• Pu-Erh requires very short brewing time; steep each cup for only about 15-20 seconds, then remove the tea strainer.
• You can usually re-brew the same tea leaves up to 10 times.

-NZ

Reference:

WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1169-PU-ERH TEA.aspx?activeIngredientId=1169&activeIngredientName=PU-ERH TEA

Aloe Vera: all purpose plant

Tags

aloe juice, aloe vera, greens, health, herbs, juice, nutrition, plants, recipe, smoothie

If you are thinking about adopting a plant for your home or garden, consider the Aloe Vera plant.

The Aloe Vera plant in our house that have been around for over a decade. It is beautiful, and easy to maintain. Not only does it provide greenery in our apartment, it is a great source of nutrients as well.  Even my cat Lucy loves it! Whenever I am not paying attention, she often jumps up to the windowsill to get a bite of the aloe plant. Once she gets a chunk off, she start chewing it like a piece of bone. Aloe filling is juicy and meaty, so no wonder she loves it so much.

Aloe vera plants look a lot like cactus, since they have a tough shell with spiky leaves and tend to grow outward rather than upward. Like cacti, aloe vera plants are also a succulent, so it only requires watering once a week (yay!).

We all know aloe is great for your skin as it’s often used to treat sunburn, rash, and acne.  But aloe is so much more than that. Often called a miracle plant, aloe vera is anti-inflammatory, anti-cancerous and immune-boosting. Aloe is often used as a digestive aid to treat various GI conditions. Nutritionally, Aloe contains vitamin B (including Vitamin B6 and B12), vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotenes and niacin. It is also rich in minerals including potassium, magnesium, copper, iron, calcium, zinc and manganese. It even has more than 15 different types of amino acids.

One of the easiest ways to consume aloe is in by putting it into a smoothie. Although you can eat the aloe meat raw, it can be a bit bitter and leaves a slight aftertaste.

To prepare aloe, cut a roughly 6-inch segment from the plant. Using a knife, cut the jagged edge off from the 2 sides first, then take the skin off using the knife leaving only the white, clear fillet exposed.

Below is a simple green aloe juice recipe to try at home.

(Serving size: 1)

• 1/2 cup fresh aloe gel, peeled
• 1 1/2 cups of cucumber
• 2 large kiwi, peeled
• 1 cups of fresh baby spinach
• 1 peeled banana
• 1 cup of regular water or coconut water

1. Add all the ingredients into your blender, start with the liquid, then rest.
2. Blend on high for 30 seconds or until creamy.

Do you have a favorite aloe recipe? Please share!

-NZ

Easy Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

Tags

almonds, boost metabolism, cayenne, chilli, diet, Food, grapefruit, health, metabolism, red pepper, weight loss

The bad news is that your metabolism slows with age. The good news is that you don’t have to give up hope.  There are plenty of things you can do to prevent the slowing of the metabolic process.

It is important to avoid constant, long-term stress and not to skip meals.  Stress and skipped meals slow down your metabolism and causes your body to go into “energy conservation” mode, thus slowing down the calorie burning process.

It’s no news that exercise is the fastest and most effective way of increasing your metabolism since lean muscles consume more calories and increases your basal metabolic rate.  Did you know that certain foods can also boost your metabolism?  Even small things such as drinking water will help to maintain a healthy metabolic rate.  The foods below not only have a lot of healthy benefits, but they will help your body burn more calories and boost your metabolism.

1. Almonds

Packed full of nutrients and antioxidants, almonds are high in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and fiber.  This makes them filling and requires the body to burn more calories to digest them, thus increasing your metabolism.

In addition to being a great source of calcium, magnesium and antioxidants, studies have shown that a cup of almonds each day can helps to increase your body’s metabolic rate.  Be sure to choose unsalted/unsweetened almonds to avoid preservatives and unnecessary calories.

2. Grapefruit

Grapefruit and grapefruit juice can help regulate insulin levels in body, which is important for controlling body weight.  Weight loss studies have shown that consuming grapefruit or its juice daily (preferably immediately before each meal) can lead to more weight loss.  Avoid grapefruit juice from concentrate, which contains a lot of sugar and often contains artificial sweeteners and additives.

3. Cayenne pepper

Adding this red hot chili pepper spice into your dish will not only give your tongue a kick, but it will jump start your metabolism too. Simply season dishes with cayenne pepper powder to enjoy the health benefits of capsaicin, which is known for its anti-inflammatory properties, as well as its metabolism-boosting benefits.

~NZ

A Medical Resident’s Secret to Acne Free Skin

Tags

acre, breakout, cleansers, face, face cleanser, food that cause skin breakout, health, moisturizers, natural cleansers, pillow, skin, skin care, toners

Guess what happens when you mix a family history riddled with acne problems and a horrendous diet and a hectic school life? Bad skin throughout high school, college AND on my wedding day. Over the years, I tried everything – proactive, natural cleansers, spot treatments, washing my face 3 times a day. Through self experimentation added to my medical and holistic training, I discovered some pretty effective ways to deal with acne:

Stopping dairy and sugar: Dairy and sugar are 2 of the only foods that are correlated with increase in acne. In a 2010 review of the literature on diet and acne published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD), milk and sugar were the only 2 foods that had any scientifically proven link to diet. This was more true for sugar than for milk. Personally, milk seems to be a bigger player for me, and low-fat dairy was worse for preventing acne than full-fat dairy. While all dairy seems to aggravate my skin, I found that ingesting small amounts of grass-fed cheese from the farmers market daily has not caused any harm.

One possible theory why dairy causes acne may be that hormones in cows milk cause an increased secretion of sweat in the hair follicles, which serve as a nesting ground for acne causing bacteria. While scientific evidence for link between dairy and acne is not overwhelming, a trial without dairy and sugar, in my opinion, never hurt. Considering all the complements about ” glowing skin” I have been getting even after 2 weeks of night float or 4 weeks of 15 hour or more days on inpatient, going off dairy has been worth it for me!

Scientific evidence for the link between sugar and acne is actually stronger. Here, sugar includes all highly refined foods, processed foods, and other foods with high glycemic index. Some very interesting and well done studies showing decreased acne in people who ate less sugar, and no acne exist in hunter-gatherer societies that ate a low-glycemic diet. The idea is that increased insulin from a high sugar diet leads to high levels of insulin like growth actor, or IGF-1, which seems to correlate with the amount of acne. In my opinion, this reinforces my own experience with dairy as well. IGF-1 sequesters less in the fatty portion of the milk. Cows raised naturally on a farm presumably have lower levels of IGF-1 so it makes you wonder about whether that is the cause for my sensitivity to factory raised cows milk. It also raises interesting questions about meat and high protein diets, which we know cause high levels of IGF-1 in the blood.

Well, now that I have thoroughly bored you with the nerd-acious commentary on acne and dairy, I also wanted to mention a few other things that have worked for me:

My medicine cabinet

Rotating cleansers : I alternate between conventional cleansers that can be drying with more natural cleansers that are more gentle but don’t always get out the worst of the muck. I use the conventional cleansers when i feel really greasy followed by a spray of natural toner to prevent drying. I still haven’t found a good, non-greasy moisturizer for my face. I welcome any suggestions for natural moisturizers!

(Note: Since talking about this blog entry with friends, family and co-workers, I have been asked to divulge my skin-care products to the world. So here is the list – I have successfully used Clean and Clear Blackhead Eraser System, Clinique Foaming Cream Cleanser, Biore Pore Cleansing Cloths in my rotation of convention cleansers. I alternate one of these with Evan Healy’s Rose Cleansing Milk, and Pangea Skin Care Egyptian Calendula Blood orange Cleanser. I also use LUSH Eau Roma Water toner or Evan Healy Lavender facial tonic. I notice my pores start to clog up when I only use the natural products, while my skin becomes very dry and loses it’s liveliness when I only use the conventional products. Moisturizers seems to make me look greasy, so I use the toners instead because they are not very strong and feel very calming.)

Cutting out sour and fermented foods – In Ayurveda, ingestion of sour and pungent taste is associated with increased inflammation of the skin. Fermented foods are considered by default sour. This means cutting down on vinegars, alcohol, as well as yogurts. Tamarind, a common ingredient in Indian dishes, is also a no-no. Lemon is surprisingly fine because it has sweetness that balances the sour.

Applying honey on the face – In Ayurveda, honey is considered drying and pungent. It also has intrinsic anti-microbial properties. Honey is a super-saturated solution, meaning that it draws in moisture, even the moisture inside bacteria, causing them to shrivel-up and DIE. It also draws moisture from your skin, making pores smaller. I do a face mask with mixture of honey and lemon. Simply apply the mask at night for five minutes and then washed off. It does absolute WONDERS and I always get glowing skin compliments the next day. This I have to thank my Ayurveda guru Vasudha Gupta.

Keeping clean: Changing the pillow covers regularly and avoid touching my face have been pretty key. Why does this work? Well, there is no evidence behind this, but common sense acne is caused by infection by the p. acnes bacterium of a hair follicle that is plugged up with dead skin-cells, dirt and sweat. So touching my face with unwashed hands probably contribute to plugged hair follicles. In Ayurveda, washing hair frequently and not letting your hair touch your face is one way to prevent acne. My pillow case is not always in contact with clean hair, not to mention the fact that my dirty hands are all over them too. Keeping pillow cases clean and avoid too much contact with my face seems to keep the acne away.

Staying hydrated with room temperature water: This is another piece of advice from ayurveda. In ayurveda, sipping room-temp water throughout the day is considered cooling and reduces inflammation. In addition, sipping water washes toxins away.

Interesting fact: teenagers with acne prone skin have more inflammation of the skin even where there is no acne. It seems there is less linoleic acid in acne prone areas of the face, according to one of the textbooks on dermatology I referenced. Linoleic acid is the plant form of omega 3, and is found in higher amounts in many seeds such as flax, chia, walnuts, almonds ans sesame. I would like to try an experiment in which I basically put flax oil on my face (perhaps as a light moisturizer after washing my face or maybe use a little to dissolve the sebum before washing my face? Has anyone tried this or heard of anything similar?).

What is your secret to a healthy skin? Please share!

-DS

Best Vegetarian Chilli You’ve Ever Had

Tags

Beans, chilli, health, mexican, nutrition, receipe, tex-mex, vegan, vegetarian, vegetarian chilli, vegetarian receipe, veggie

I don’t like to stereotype my people, but I think most of my fellow South-Asians would agree that we love our Tex-Mex. Last year, my husband and I spent a month in the predominantly Hispanic Mission district of San Francisco where there’s a taqueria on every corner, and we would eat burritos 3-4 days a week. We almost got burritos again at the airport before flying back to New
Jersey but decided on principle to get Japanese instead. We regretted the decision later.

In my younger days I associated beans with Taco Bell and (by extension) with junk food, but I had no idea that beans are actually wonderful for you. They are full of resistant starch and fiber
– the kind of carbohydrates that are associated with health-benefits and help you feel full for longer with less calories. One of my favorite recipes is vegetarian chili. A guaranteed a crowd-
pleaser, it appeals even to the most meat-and-potatoes palate. The best part of vegetarian chili? It’s a wonderful way to get people to eat vegetables! It’s also a pretty versatile recipe.

My one request – please don’t ruin it by using hot sauce! Most hot sauce is mostly vinegar, and it really overwhelms the taste. Using it as a condiment later is fine, but I really would not
recommend adding it to the recipe.

I also added optional Indian spices to be used. Although not essential, I can never resist adding these spices into all kinds of dishes. I find that they make it easier to digest the beans. In this particular chili, I used fresh heirloom tomatoes from the farmers market. I just love all the gorgeous colors, shapes and sizes! I also used red Russian kale, pictured below.

Ingredients:
The biggest pot you have and a separate sautee pan
5-6 cloves fresh garlic minced
1-2 large onions
1-4 jalapenos depending on how hot you like it. I don’t de-seed them, but you can.
4-6 vine ripened or 2-3 beef-steak tomatoes
4 cans black beans, 2 cans chickpeas or other type of beans, 2 cans white beans or any other type of beans or rough equivalent amount of beans that have been soaked overnight.
2 cans sweet corn or kernels from 2 ears of shucked corn
Suggested veggies-
Desired amount of squash and/or zucchini (usually i use 2 of each) – halved and sliced into thin rounds
Leafy green veggies 2 bunches (usually I use Kale and Chard).
EVOO

Optional –
2-3 carrots diced into 0.5-1in cubes
2-3 sticks celery diced into 0.5 to 1in cubes
2 cans of refried black or pinto beans

Spices:
Cumin powder (i usually grind mine fresh quickly in a mortar and pestle. I find the aroma intoxicating!) 1 heaped tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Chilli powder to taste
Optional-
1-2 bay leaves
Coriander powder
Fresh coriander to use as garnish
Tempering indian spices such as a tsp black mustard seeds, tsp cumin and pinch asoefetida to help with digestion of the beans
Salt to taste

Directions:
-Heat desired olive oil in the large pot
-Add optional tempering spices at this point. Wait till black mustard seeds start to pop before next step.
-Add chopped garlic and jalapenos. Stir to coat with oil
-Add onions
-When onions are half done(not totally translucent but half way there) add cumin, 1 tsp chilli powder, turmeric and stir to coat the onions with the spices
-Add tomato, stir everything together and then cook covered until the peel is comes off the tomato, stirring occasionally
-Once tomato is thoroughly cooked, add all the canned beans, another tsp chilli powder and the cumin powder and cook for a bit, stirring occasionally. You can cook the beans however long you want. I usually clean most of the kitchen at this point.
-In a separate pan, heat oil and sautee squash with 1 tsp whole cumin. Once it is done, add it into the cooking beans.
-add chopped celery and carrots and stir them in
-add greens and push them to the bottom of the chilli so they wilt.
-garnish with scallions and chopped cilantro

Fun-fact:

While you’re enjoying your vegetable-packed chili, you might be interested to know that beans are a wonderful source of iron (which helps protect against anemia), zinc (which aids enzymes,
including those involved in DNA synthesis and repair), folate (which prevents birth defects during pregnancy, and is much more effective in food form than in folic acid-pill form) and potassium.

Beans count as a serving of both protein and vegetable, so they are a wonderful addition to your diet. They have a lot of resistant starch which makes them a wonderfully low-glycemic
food, meaning they don’t give you a sugar high. That makes you less hungry and less apt to gain weight!

I hope this recipe makes you want to eat your beans!