Boost Your Foods Nutrition (part V)
Modern Day De-Nourishing vs. Traditional Nutritional Boosting Kitchen Techniques
This series has covered how you can dramatically boost the nutrition of the foods you and your family are eating by your choices including:
The next few blogs of this series will begin to give simplistic kitchen tips as to not destroy but rather further boost the nutrition of your foods.
As a further encouragement to how your food choices can make a difference to your health, I wanted to share a story from a client of mine, Shannon Hammer, who is also an inspirational health blogger at http://www.positiveportions.com. Shannon had experienced such a remarkable shift in her health with our work together and with the new choices she has made in her food selections and preparations that she was inspired to blog about it and share it with others “Why You May Not Be Eating as Healthy as You Think”.
How Not to Destroy the Food in Your Kitchen
Now that you’ve taken the efforts to buy nutritious foods, the last thing you want to do is destroy the nutrients when preparing them. So today’s blog will give kitchen techniques to avoid that destroys food nutrients and list alternate options. The first technique I’d like to highlight that is highly used in the modern day kitchen that destroys the nutrition of your food, unnaturally alters the molecules of your food, and is a toxic threat with its radiation exposure. This kitchen tool is called ….(have you guessed it yet)? –the Microwave.
I can already hear it, “but the microwave is so convenient and fast? Yes I agree its fast, but in my personal opinion it makes food taste terrible and the much more important reasons you should junk your microwaves are listed below.
The Health Costs to Using a Microwave
Carcinogenic toxins are often leached into your food from plastic paper plates and covers
Decreases nutritional levels of your foods by 60% to 90%!
Vegetables lose valuable cancer fighting nutrients (aka anti-oxidants), vitamins and minerals
Meats become very difficult to digest, depleting digestive enzyme reserves
Milk and cereals converts amino acids into carcinogens
Thawing of fruits & vegetables converts glucosides into carcinogenic substances
Microwave vegetables create carcinogenic free radicals
Produces extraordinary level of toxic synthetic electrical magnetic field which has demonstrated the following health threatening effects in blood
Increase cholesterol levels
Increase leukocytes (WBC), which suggests poisoning
Decreases number of red blood cells
Production of radiolytic compounds which are unknown in nature
Decreases hemoglobin levels, which can produce anemia
A publicized lawsuit from the misfortune of a woman who died after receiving a blood transfusion with blood that was microwaved in 1991 demonstrated the direct effect synthetic microwaves have on blood. Indicated in the footnote(1) of this case
The Scientific Lingo of Microwaves
What actually happens when foods are microwaved synthetically? A summary from a study published by Raum & Zelt in 1992 is “Microwaved food contains both molecules and energies not present in food cooked in the way humans have been cooking food since the discovery of fire. Microwave energy from the sun and other stars is direct current based. Artificially produced microwaves, including those in ovens, are produced from alternating current and force a billion or more polarity reversals per second in every food molecule they hit with an inevitable result of producing unnatural molecules. When the human body receives molecules and energies, to which it is not accustomed, is much more likely to cause harm than good.”
Alternatives to microwave use
When available use a conventional oven or stove top
A wonderful and convenient transportable tool is a hot plate and a stainless steel pan
When applicable eat food at room temperature
Increase raw foods in your diet
Now some of you who might already start questioning, hmmm so we can still cook our food and not eat everything raw? Doesn’t cooked food destroy food nutrients too? Excellent thinking! Yes you get more valuable nutrients through raw cultured and sprouted foods (more to come on these in next months blog), but with regards to “cooked” foods a key indicator you want to be considering is the temperature the food is exposed too.
Preparing Foods with High Heat
The higher the temperature that food is cooked the more destructive it is to the nutrients of the food as well as the natural digestive enzymes contained in the food. Like a domino effect, eating highly heated foods puts a higher demand on your own body to supply enzymes and minerals from its own reserves. When your reserves are low are depleted, food ends up sitting in your gut for days at a time (like a kitchen sink filled with dirty dishes from over a week ago) yuck Not only is your body not able to absorb the food nutrients but you now are creating an environment in your gut where bugs (parasites, bacteria, fungus etc) can proliferate which turn into symptoms from allergies, skin disruptions, leaky-gut syndrome, neurological disorders etc..
Research
Research since 1930’s: cooking foods over 212 degrees, over stimulates the body’s immune response. White Blood Cells immediately increase when a person eats over heated foods
Research revealed cooking food at higher temperatures activates a nano bacteria which in Germany has shown to be the underlying cause of a number of diseases
Several studies since 1990 “indicate cooking muscle meat creates heterocyclic amines (HCAs)
High rates of HCA can cause cancer in animals; (in humans remains unclear).”
"National Cancer Institute (NCI) found humans having eaten beef rare or medium-rare had less than a third risk of stomach cancer compared to those having eaten beef medium-well or well-done….”
NCI indicates eating muscle meat raw may be the only way to avoid HCA fully, they also state “cooking meat below 212F (100C) creates "negligible amounts" of HCAs.
Dr Francis Pottenger found every food has a heat labile point. The heat labile point is the temperature point at which food changes its chemical configuration.
Pasteurization, deep-frying, and barbecuing = food is heated past the heat labile point
When past the heat labile point, the food no longer has any digestive enzymes and basically begins to rot in the gut, becomes toxic, proteins putrefy and oils become rancid.
Researchers at the University of California at Davis found with bread, the longer it was cooked and the higher the temperature that it was cooked at, the longer it stayed in the stomach
Researcher 1930s’ Dr Paul Kouchakoff (Institute of Clinical Chemistry) tested a variety of foods and discovered
foods not overheated or refined caused no reaction
when same foods, where heated at a higher temperature it caused a negative reaction in the blood that mirrored how the body responds when a dangerous pathogen invades the body
if the person ate an equal amount of raw food with the cooked food, the blood reactions were minimized.
the “foods” that created the most alarming reaction by the body (heated or not), were processed foods refined, homogenized, pasteurized, and/or preserved
Alternatives to highly heated foods
eat raw and cultured foods
cook foods at lower temperatures and for shorter time periods both in the oven and on stove top
eat foods at room temperature
to warm/reheat foods, create your own double boiler: place foods in a glass jar, place the glass jar in a pot that has enough water to cover the area of the jar that contains the food. Turn on the stove top at the lowest setting (to avoid breaking the glass). Take the food to eat out when its heated at a desired warmth
One final area where a simplistic food prep technique can boost and save the nutrition of the foods you eat. Put your peeler away!
Peeling fruits and vegetables, strips away the fiber and minerals
Citrus, apples, grapes, and tomatoes (not harmed by chemicals) all have amazing antioxidant properties in their skins!
Antioxidants are the "clean up crew" in your body, of damaging diets, pollution, stress, and just plain old living
Do NOT purchase fruits or vegetables that are waxed
The peels of vegetables and fruits contain the most fiber, which is key for moving food through your digestive system, healthy elimination and protection from colon cancer
It’s a time saver! One less thing you have to do in the kitchen
Summary
The cheaper cost or faster results of foods are truly outweighed in the price of health
When food is killed by over heating, processing, chemically or synthetically altered molecules the cells of the food no longer function in providing nutrients to your body. Even more so, many times the “food” becomes toxic to the body, reducing the body’s ability to function at optimally
We are surrounded by cheap abundance fast food, sugar, denatured, processed, damaged fats, & indigestible foods (bread, cereal, pasta, corn, rice, potatoes, cookie, fruits, alcohol)…. Injected into the gut creates a bomb.
Eventually the bomb leaks or explodes, degrading quality of life CALLED: disease, chronic aches, chronic fatigue, advanced aging, shortened lifespan (take your pick) and is at the same time passed on to the generation of our children.
Do your best to avoid unnatural, processed overheated synthetically heated foods and replace them with delicious whole foods for optimal health
Your Nutritional Boost Recipe – Vegetable Couscous
1 head of cauliflower
1 yellow bell pepper
1 shallot
5 dates (soaked)
zest and juice of 2 lemons
2 Tbs PRL essential fatty acid oil blend
½ bunch flat parsley
½ tsp PRL air-dried/untreated pink salt
Cut up cauliflower in chunks and place in steamer basket and steam for 5 minutes or less. In batches, place steamed cauliflower in food processor and process till chopped in rice like pieces. Place chopped cauliflower in large bowl. Chop shallot, bell pepper, parsley and dates in food processor and place in same bowl as cauliflower. Pour over the vegetables, oil, juice, zest and salt and mix.
Let it chill in fridge or eat right away. (A variation of Cauliflower Coucous in Heal Your Gut cookbook by Hilary Boynton and Mary G. Brackett)
Fresh Organic Juices
Along with health tips, further supporting your health and wellness, CoeDynamics receives weekly deliveries of fresh organic cold-pressed juices as well as seasonal organic soups and salads through Karen Kaminkas, Real Fuel. To be listed on our weekly menu distribution list please click here.
As a QRA & Wellness Practitioner, a primary focus with clients is providing a step by step process in building a nutrient dense daily diet along with supplying recipes and teaching how to be in the kitchen efficiently and effectively. If you are seeking additional assistance to renew your diet and/or your family’s for health, weight loss, and/or body type, to inquire about an appointment please click here or call 310.798.7600.
To Great Health & Wellness
Tracy PMA-CPT, certified QRA & Wellness Practitioner
PS We love to hear from you, questions, recipe sharing, recipe feedback simply email us at pilates@coe-dynamics.com.
References
"National Cancer Institute – Heterocyclic Amines in Cooked Meats". Cancer.gov. 2004-09-15. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
López-Berenguer, C; Carvajal, M; Moreno, DA; García-Viguera, C (2007). "Effects of microwave cooking conditions on bioactive compounds present in broccoli inflorescences". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 55 (24): 10001–7. doi:10.1021/jf071680t. PMID 17979232.
Watanabe, F; Abe, K; Fujita, T; Goto, M; Hiemori, M; Nakano, Y (1998). "Effects of Microwave Heating on the Loss of Vitamin B(12) in Foods". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 46 (1): 206–210. doi:10.1021/jf970670x. PMID 10554220.
Disclaimer: Messages from CoeDynamics are not regulated by FDAA and are not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or health condition. It is solely informational in nature. Please consult your health care practitioner before engaging in any treatments or nutritional product mentioned or suggested in these messages.
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