Enjoying food doesn’t mean giving up on health or weight loss. Counting every calorie, crunching numbers instead of nutrients, and living in deprivation; all these can take all the joy out of eating.
Rather than constantly stressing about what not to eat, shift your focus onto what you should be eating that you are not.
This will take away some of the confusion around diet. If your focus is, for example, on avoiding fat, you might be unknowingly consuming quantities of extra low quality calories through added sugars, or even worse: artificial ingredients. The continuous rise in obesity suggests that diet foods, sugar-free soft drinks and low-fat snacks are not helping people manage their weight.
Fortunately, these days people are rediscovering seasonal vegetables, nuts, berries, organics, whole grains, fresh, home-cooked meals and other healthful foods.
By adding nutrient rich foods, we can meet our hunger while eliminating unhealthy cravings and curve binge eating. No matter how much we eat, if our body does not get the nutrients it needs, it will continue to hunger for more. This is one of the reasons why caffeine, sugar and other processed carbohydrates can be so addictive. Providing an immediate but false sense of energy, the body is thrown into a cycle of a constant search for sustainability. Teasing the body into feeling it now has the fuel to charge forward, we continue to run on empty while wearing and tearing ourselves down in the process. Adding more plant-based and whole/ unprocessed foods to our diet can help keep us satiated, naturally regain portion control, regulate our hunger, and enhance our energy, vitality, and health.
The more energy we put into preparing our food, the more energy our body puts into assimilating it. Food is not our enemy. The 'enemy' is the “food-like” packaged products that has made it to feel that way.
Don’t skip out on the pleasure of home cooking. Keep it simple enough for you to handle and enjoy. Enjoying a home cooked meal creates feelings about food that makes you feel cared for. What are we telling ourselves if we mostly eat meals that were mass produced with no thought of our individual selves? Eating a home cooked meal is a vital key in creating a positive relationship with what is on the plate. These days it’s a miracle if a plate is even involved with your meal at all.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Food Focus: Brown Rice
Brown rice contains the highest amount of B vitamins out of all grains. Additionally, it contains iron, vitamin E, amino acids, and linoleic acid. Brown rice is high in fiber, extremely low in sodium and is composed of 80% complex carbohydrates. Because brown rice is a whole food, it takes longer to digest than white rice, providing the body with sustained energy throughout the day.
Brown rice is known to generates energy, promote good digestion, quenches thirst, alleviate diarrhea caused by spleen-pancreas deficiency, and relieve mental depression.
When you cook enough brown rice to last you for several days you can add it to different meals: Add it to stews, cream it in a soup, layer it in a casserole, stir-fry it, roll it up in a tortilla, mix it in a loaf, toss it in a salad, make a morning porridge (adding raisins cinnamon, nuts, etc’), press it down in a pie plate as a crust for a pie (such as steamed mashed yams), blend it with miso and turn it into a gravy for vegetables, blend it into your morning smoothie, or blend it adding into a dip (adding tahini or a nut butter for richness, perhaps seasonings such as garlic, parsley, or dill).
Basic Brown Rice
Yields 3 cups
1 cup brown rice
2 cups of water or broth
seasonings to taste
1. Rinse rice in a bowl of cool water and strain.
2. Place all ingredients in a pot with a tight fitting lid.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat.
4. Cover and let simmer for 50 minutes. If this is your first experiment with rice you’ll, want to check the rice 10 minutes before the anticipated finish time so you don’t burn the rice (If you do burn it, it is okay, just try it again!)
5. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes
6. Fluff with fork and serve
(May also be prepared in a rice cooker with the same ratio of ingredients.)
Seasonal stir fry with garlic sauce
Serves four
1 onion, cut into thick crescents
2-3 carrots, cut on thin diagonals
8 oz. shrimp (or diced chicken, beef, tofu, tempeh)
2 stalks broccoli, florets plus stems cut in thin diagonals
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
3 Tbs. tamari/ soy sauce
1/2 -1/3 cup water
1 Tbs. maple syrup
2 Tbs. toasted sesame oil
1-2 scallions, minced
Add a small amount of water to a frying pan and water sauté onion for 2 minutes. Add carrots and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add shrimp and broccoli cook for 2-3 minutes. Combine garlic, tamari, water, maple syrup and toasted sesame oil. Pour over stir-fry, cover and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Lay stir-fry on top of cooked brown rice and garnish with scallions.
Brown Rice Pudding
Serves four
2 cups leftover brown rice
1 cup milk (rice milk, almond milk, or organic dairy milk)
1/2 cup raisins
2 Tbs. maple syrup/ other natural sweetener
1 tsp. vanilla essence
2 Tbs. dried shredded coconut (optional)
1 Tbs. tahini
Combine all ingredients and heat on stovetop for 5-7 minutes or bake in the oven at 350° for 20 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Variation: no tahini, add cinnamon.
Brown rice is known to generates energy, promote good digestion, quenches thirst, alleviate diarrhea caused by spleen-pancreas deficiency, and relieve mental depression.
When you cook enough brown rice to last you for several days you can add it to different meals: Add it to stews, cream it in a soup, layer it in a casserole, stir-fry it, roll it up in a tortilla, mix it in a loaf, toss it in a salad, make a morning porridge (adding raisins cinnamon, nuts, etc’), press it down in a pie plate as a crust for a pie (such as steamed mashed yams), blend it with miso and turn it into a gravy for vegetables, blend it into your morning smoothie, or blend it adding into a dip (adding tahini or a nut butter for richness, perhaps seasonings such as garlic, parsley, or dill).
Basic Brown Rice
Yields 3 cups
1 cup brown rice
2 cups of water or broth
seasonings to taste
1. Rinse rice in a bowl of cool water and strain.
2. Place all ingredients in a pot with a tight fitting lid.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat.
4. Cover and let simmer for 50 minutes. If this is your first experiment with rice you’ll, want to check the rice 10 minutes before the anticipated finish time so you don’t burn the rice (If you do burn it, it is okay, just try it again!)
5. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes
6. Fluff with fork and serve
(May also be prepared in a rice cooker with the same ratio of ingredients.)
Seasonal stir fry with garlic sauce
Serves four
1 onion, cut into thick crescents
2-3 carrots, cut on thin diagonals
8 oz. shrimp (or diced chicken, beef, tofu, tempeh)
2 stalks broccoli, florets plus stems cut in thin diagonals
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
3 Tbs. tamari/ soy sauce
1/2 -1/3 cup water
1 Tbs. maple syrup
2 Tbs. toasted sesame oil
1-2 scallions, minced
Add a small amount of water to a frying pan and water sauté onion for 2 minutes. Add carrots and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add shrimp and broccoli cook for 2-3 minutes. Combine garlic, tamari, water, maple syrup and toasted sesame oil. Pour over stir-fry, cover and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Lay stir-fry on top of cooked brown rice and garnish with scallions.
Brown Rice Pudding
Serves four
2 cups leftover brown rice
1 cup milk (rice milk, almond milk, or organic dairy milk)
1/2 cup raisins
2 Tbs. maple syrup/ other natural sweetener
1 tsp. vanilla essence
2 Tbs. dried shredded coconut (optional)
1 Tbs. tahini
Combine all ingredients and heat on stovetop for 5-7 minutes or bake in the oven at 350° for 20 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Variation: no tahini, add cinnamon.
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