on my mind monday 6.4.12

news | photo: mconnors

It's never the same two weeks in a row.  This is what I find interesting in the fields of health, nutrition, and holistic living.  Read what's on my mind.

Like curry? - turmeric, one of the commonly used spices in curry, contains curcurmin.  Evidence appears to indicate that curcurmin can be supportive for conditions such as arthritis, cancer, and diabetes. Now it turns out that curcurmin may actually boost the immune system.  In addition to curries, turmeric can be used in making pickles, relishes, added to egg salad, use to flavor rice dishes, and more.  I always laugh when I go to visit a friend of mine who is from India.  Her kitchen contains a quart jar of turmeric and she goes through it at a fairly quick pace.  I have a two ounce jar and it takes me a long time to use it all.  Perhaps we all need to be considering other ways to add it to our diet.

RI to vote on banning veal crates - I'm happy to see this in the news and hope that Rhode Island will join Arizona, Colorado, California, Maine, and Michigan in outlawing this inhumane practice.  Veal is, essentially, the waste product of the dairy industry.  Not able to use male calves the farmers can instead turn them into meat.  However part of the reason veal is so pale and tender is because the calves are kept hobbled or caged and cannot walk or use their muscles.  It is also believed that many of these calves are given illegal hormones to make them grow faster, thereby making them more profitable for the farmer. Many people, when they find out how veal is raised, are horrified and choose to no longer eat it.  That is the clearest message that can be sent to the farmers.

Fast Food Mania TV show - I'm truly stunned by this t.v. concept (and not in a good way).  I wonder how hard the fast food producers had to work and how much they had to pay to get this concept on the air.  As if we don't have enough of a challenge with obesity and fast food consumption in this country.   I get the impression that this show will not only glorify this unhealthy food, but also offer tips on how to maximize your dining experience.  Not a good idea.




Right now in my garden outside I have a fair amount of greens growing including kale, swiss chard, and Malabar spinach (Basella alba).  While malabar is different than traditional spinach due to it's habit of climbing and the rounded thicker leaves, it's still a spinach and so it get's cooked like spinach.  This video from George Mateljan shows a great way to cook it.  His healthy take away tips are 1. don't drink the water that you cook the spinach in as it is high in oxalic acid, and 2. use lemon juice on the spinach, this will help to increase the iron absorption.

George has a great book The World's Healthiest Foods which is a wonderful reference for learning about the healthy properties of a tremendous range of foods.  It also comes packed with hundreds of delicious recipes.  This is one of those books which I believe belongs on everyone's shelf.  Sign up for his YouTube channel and stay on top of his healthy, tasty, recipes as well


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