Green Chef review

I tried Green Chef for the first time this week. Green Chef is a food box delivery program. They send you three dinners for two once a week. All of their food is organic and sustainably sourced.

Although you don't get to pick which meals they send you in a given week, you can select from a limited range of dietary preferences (vegetarian, omnivore, vegan, gluten-free, paleo), you can see what recipes they will be sending you ahead of time, and skip weeks whenever you want.

FedEx sent the first box that I ordered from Green Chef to the wrong address, leaving me hugely disappointed. I didn't realize how much I would be looking forward to it, especially because I was taking care of a sick husband that week. The mix up wasn't Green Chef's fault and I was not billed for that order, but I got a FaceBook message about a week later from a guy who lives on a different street in my town with the same building and apartment number, claiming the box had been sitting in front of his apartment door for about a week.

I let Green Chef know. They are very friendly, but I was still sad that so much food got wasted.

When my first box finally arrived, this is what was inside:

There are three recipes and all of the ingredients needed to cook them. Everything is measured out to prevent food waste and everything is colour-coded to match the recipe cards. All of the food is fresh and has kept well in my refrigerator. Most of the recipes are compatible with the anti-inflammatory diet. All are low calorie. I've cooked two so far.

First, I made buttermilk-brined chicken, mushrooms, potato & peas, arugula & fig salad.

I think this was the most delicious chicken dinner that I've ever cooked. Because they sent me the recipe card, I can make it again whenever I want!

I was too excited to eat the Memorial Day Mozz Burger & bacon slaw to take a picture, but I kind of wish that I had. I don't think the burger buns are compatible with the anti-inflammatory diet (so I was cheating by eating one). This was a really good burger made from really good beef! However, my husband and I wound up throwing away most of the bacon slaw.

The fact that we hated the bacon slaw is probably not Green Chef's fault either. Bacon just tastes wrong in cole slaw. I felt like I wrecked the two things by mixing them together.

Tonight, I'm looking forward to making Buffalo-Blue Sweet Potato, blue cheese, black bean & corn salsa, spinach.

Based on this experience, I definitely recommend Green Chef. If you are interested in giving them a chance, click here to get four meals (two recipes and all of the ingredients) for free.

To find out more about my journey in exploring food as medicine, like my Facebook page.

Food as Medicine: course review

I've just completed a three week course called "Food as Medicine." I thought the course would have me blogging more than I have over the past three weeks, but it seems I've barely written anything at all.

In week one the course introduced learners to the concept of evidence-based medicine, which seemed pretty basic to me.

Evidence based medicine is the “conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients” and/or more broadly applied to populations.

The course presented this concept as the alternative to traditional-based medicines.

In the beginning, I thought I was all about evidence-based medicine in my approach to health care, but, in conversations with other learners, I quickly realized that I use food as medicine all the time -- even before I started the anti-inflammatory diet. When my husband is sick, I buy ginger ale and immediately begin making chicken noodle soup. If I am anxious, I have a cup of tea. If I have diarrhea, I drink lots of fluids and eat plain rice. These are habits I learned throughout my life.

The course teaches the difference between macronutrients and micronutrients, phytochemicals and antioxidants, prebiotics and probiotics, before sticking a pin in the myth of superfoods. I will have to write a separate post on the myth of superfoods.

In week one, I also started keeping a food journal (it starts on the week I am celebrating my husband's birthday, then my eating habits improve) and gradually I forgot to maintain it. Eventually, I just stopped, but that was fine because the course didn't seem to mention it again.

In week two, we began learning about what controls our appetites, which got me thinking about the factors in my life that make it hard for me to stick to my diet (like celebrating my husband's birthday).

Week two also had a bunch of information on our genes and diet during pregnancy, which I found boring. My baby is grown up already! However, when they started talking about measuring obesity, I paid attention.

I think weight is a bogus way of measuring a person's health. I was in very good shape at age 14 weighing an athletic 158 lbs, which, some years later, is what I weighed when I was 9 months pregnant. I won't tell you how much I weigh now, but since then, I have consistently stayed between a size 10-14 (I am 5'7"). At age 40, I have a 32 inch waste, but the BMI says I am borderline obese... I call nonsense.

Week two of the course taught me about approaching the anti-inflammatory diet as a lifestyle change that will keep me healthier in an ongoing way.

In week three we learned about media literacy in relation to food as medicine and sensationalized health headlines. It also introduced me to Behind the Headlines: your guide to the science that makes the news. Behind the Headlines investigates popular news stories about health sciences, tracing them back to their origins and analyzing the science at their root.

With many thanks to the course's lead educator Helen Truby, I recommend the Food as Medicine course to anyone with an interest in my blog.

To find out more about my journey in exploring food as medicine, like my Facebook page.

Diet & Privilege

One in nine people on this planet don't have enough food to eat to lead an active lifestyle. People all around me don't know if they have enough food to get through the week. Here I am, like a spoiled little princess, saying I don't want any ice cream.

As a volunteer at the food bank, many years ago, I asked one of our patrons whether he was vegetarian. "Only when I can afford to be," he answered, opting for the omnivore's kit. That didn't make any sense to me at the time; this food bank catered to vegetarian and vegan diets. I understand now that special diets are a form of privilege.

Privilege is a special right or advantage available only to a particular person or group of people. The term is commonly used in the context of social inequality, particularly in regard to age, disability, ethnic or racial category, gender, sexual orientation, religion and/or social class. Two common examples would be having access to a higher education and housing. Privilege can also be emotional or psychological, regarding comfort and personal self-confidence, or having a sense of belonging or worth in society. It began as an academic concept, but has since become popular outside of academia. Source.

Even special diets for health are a form of privilege in a world where you are lucky to have something to eat.  Special diets are a form of privilege even when access barriers to special diets is imagined, like the man who couldn't afford to be a vegetarian at the food bank.

A community food bank in NJ

Now that I know I am exercising a form of privilege by eating and sharing a special diet to benefit my health, how do I address this social inequality?

One way might be by sharing inexpensive recipes that are consistent with the anti-inflammatory diet, like my turmeric tofu scramble, which uses left-over vegetables. I should be looking for lots of those in the future because I'm not rich, just self-entitled: privileged. There have been many times in my life that I had no reservations about buying the organic macaroni  and cheese with my last five dollars, instead of saving $4.50 with the non-organic generic brand.

To find out more about my journey in exploring food as medicine, like my Facebook page.

Food Journal

I've been asked to keep a food journal for the next three weeks, so I am going to keep it here. I will try to update it every day. It's probably the worst week for me to begin because we are celebrating my husband's birthday this week. I predict it will look like I've really shaped up next week.

Monday 2nd of May

Breakfast:

Multi-grain oatmeal with fresh strawberries and vanilla almond milk.

I also had a cup of coffee.

Lunch:

I like to try to use up leftovers at lunch and had some salad left from the night before, but needed soy and protein.

Tossed spinach salad and a turmeric tofu scramble.

Yes, that is grated cheese on top, but it looks like more than there is.

I also had a glass of water and a glass of vegetable juice. Mid afternoon, I made some spicy chai tea too - no milk or sugar.

Dinner:

I was too busy serving dinner to take a picture, but we had a veggie and humus plate with a bowl of my homemade pita chips. I know pita chips aren't on my diet, but my husband really wanted them and its his birthday (soon). We also had a curried cashew and carrot soup, which you wouldn't think goes well with Greek food, but it does. We crumbled a few of the remaining pita chips into our soup and it was delicious.

Also, I had a glass of red wine.

Dessert:

I don't usually eat dessert, but like I said this is a special time. Picked up this strawberry shortbread interpretation  of an empire cookie. It was so sweet that we shared the one.

I had another glass of red wine.

Snack:

Maybe it was the wine, but I caved and had a couple handfuls of potato chips and a cup of green tea before bed.

Tuesday 3rd of May

Breakfast:

An orange and some strawberries.

Also had a cup of coffee.

Lunch:

I almost forgot to take a picture of my lunch, so here it is... almost gone.

Cheddar, carrots, mushrooms, celery, cucumber,
red pepper humus, and a glass of water.

Snack:

I had a cup of chai green tea and some Ona maple pecan cookies. Ona maple cookies are healthy little cookies that come in a pack of two. They are gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and soy-free -- not that I'm trying to avoid ALL of those things. I just got them for free!

They do contain: almond flour, honey, maple syrup, pecans, coconut oil, vanilla extract, sea salt, cinnamon, and are mostly organic.

Dinner:

On the eve of my husband's birthday, I told him he could have anything he wanted for dinner. He chose KFC. I will behave better next week. I promise!

Wednesday 4th of May

Breakfast:

Today was my husband's birthday. He woke me up excitedly and asked me to go out for breakfast with him. Here's what I ordered:

Raspberries, kiwi, blackberries, blueberries, granola, banana, pineapple,
and a big dollop of yogurt in the middle.

Also, had two cups of coffee.

Lunch:

I made my lunch at the salad bar and brought it home.

Roast chicken on top of "summer pasta salad" (tomatoes, mozzarella, farfalle,
olive oil, garlic, oregano) on top of the "calcium boost salad"  (spinach, five
kinds of beans, red onion, balsamic vinaigrette).

Also had chai green tea.

Dinner:

I didn't have time to make my lunch at home because I was getting ready for company and made a big roast beef dinner (one of the birthday boy's favourites). This included roast beef, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, potatoes, carrots, steamed asparagus, and Yorkshire pudding (made from scratch). Also had a couple glasses of red wine.

Dessert:

Cake, of course! Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, a chocolate buttercream filling, and half a scoop of Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream.

Birthday cake! I was playing the Beatles' Birthday Song on my iPad, which
also served as a tray for the cake. lol

Thursday 5th of May

Breakfast:

Cup of coffee and...

Avocado toast with a basted egg.

Lunch:

For lunch I had chicken tortilla soup. There were no tortillas and very little chicken in my soup. I got it on my way to the museum at the market by my house. It was vegetable broth, tomatoes, corn, peppers, black beans, kidney beans, white beans, and Mexican spices. Two cups of pressed apple-pomegranite juice.

Dinner:

Left-over pot roast from the night before, with a couple glasses of wine. No dessert for me.

Friday 6th of May

Breakfast:

I was bad today and didn't eat breakfast. I had a glass of probiotic blueberry pomegranate juice before I left the house, then got a small frappuccino and Starbucks. I've been reducing the sugar in my diet so much that this tasted like pure syrup!

Lunch:

I made my self a delicious salad at the salad bar on campus today and ate it in the sunshine!

Romaine, spinach, beets, mushrooms, half a hard-boiled
egg, black beans, kidney beans, feta, flax seeds, cherry
red peppers, tomatoes, and sunflower seeds.

Snack:

Not eating breakfast left me hungry all day (I think).

Tandoor Chef cilantro pesto naan pizza.

And sparkling water with fruit juice.

Dinner:

For dinner, I made this platter to share with hubby and enjoyed some red wine.

Homemade pita chips, popcorn shrimp, carrots, cucumber, mushrooms,
celery, red pepper hummus, guacamole.

Saturday 7th of May

Brunch:

We had a pretty jentacular weekend, wrapping up my husband's birthday week. Saturday we went to First Watch, where I ordered:

See the menu here.

I didn't like the ciabatta (doesn't suit my diet anyway), so I mostly had the eggs, cheese, and veg. I also had two and half cups of coffee.

Dinner:

My husband made a yummy stir fry for dinner.

Beef & mushroom rice noodles, fried vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower,
carrots, peas, onions, soy sauce, and spices.

I also had some red wine.

Sunday 8th of May

Breakfast:

Back on my diet, I went out for breakfast, ordered the granola bowl and a cup of coffee.

Kiwi, blackberries, blue berries, pineapple, granola, banana, and a
scoop of yogurt.

Lunch:

Whole grain crackers and cheddar, a glass of water.

Dinner:

Tofu burger (mostly soy flour) - no bun - bacon, sautéed
mushrooms, avocado, and a salad of mixed greens, red &
yellow peppers, cucumber, kidney beans, and black beans.

Of course, I had some red wine.

Monday 9th of May

Breakfast:

Basted egg, whole grain toast with olive oil, garlic, lemon, avocado, and
two slices of bacon.

I barely ate half of that and my puppy looked like he really needed some of that bacon. I also had two cups of coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

After breakfast, things didn't go so well. I had health issues for over an hour, then I began feeling very nauseous.

Lunch:

I thought this and a cup of chai would be easy enough to eat.

Curried carrot and cashew soup.

A few hours later, I nearly threw up.

Snack:

To calm my stomach, I had some whole grain crackers and water.

Dinner:

Chicken noodle soup and green tea.

Dessert:

Coconut cream ice cream.

Tuesday 10th of May

Breakfast:

Coffee and...

Banana and peanut butter yogurt.

Lunch:

For lunch today, I made myself a strength enducing sandwich because my husband is sick and I felt I really needed something substantial that fitted my diet to be able to continue taking care of him. I had green tea, as well ad fruit juice with sparkling water and:

One piece of multi-grain toast with half an avocado, half a chicken breast,
some cheddar, and some mixed greens.

Dinner:

By dinnertime, I felt my husband was beginning to recover himself somewhat, but lacked appetite. So I whipped myself up something that would quickly satisfy, which was wise because he was craving chips and chocolate; and I avoided those. 

I had fusilli with tofu, zucchini, green pepper, mushrooms, and garlic sautéed in olive oil, cayenne, and an Italian spice mix. I also had red wine... it was a long day...

To find out more about my journey in exploring food as medicine, like my Facebook page.

History of Food as Medicine: Introduction

If you have ever had a cup of tea with honey to sooth a sore throat, or a bowl of chicken noodle soup, when you were sick, you've used food as medicine. As far as I can tell, food has always been used as medicine.

In 400 B.C. the Greek physician Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine” said, “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” Hippocrates realized that food impacts a person’s health, body and mind to help prevent illness as well as maintain wellness.
In Hippocrates’ Greece, as well as across pre-modern Europe and Asia since ancient times, foods were used to affect health. For instance, the juice of liver was squeezed on the eye to treat eye diseases, connected to Vitamin A deficiency. Garlic was used to cure athlete’s foot, and eating ginger was thought to stimulate the metabolism.
In 1747, a British Navy physician, Dr. James Lind, saw that sailors were developing scurvy, a deadly bleeding disorder, on long voyages. He observed that they ate only nonperishable foods such as bread and meat.
Lind’s experiment fed one group of sailors salt water, one group vinegar, and one group limes. Those given limes didn’t develop scurvy. And although Vitamin C wasn’t discovered until the 1930s, this experiment changed the way physicians thought about food, creating a market for nutrition careers. Source.

From curing scurvy with limes to promoting better health with the latest fad diet, there has always been a lot of experimentation in the field of nutrition science. Not surprisingly, the advent of vitamin, or dietary, supplements (I hate supplements) was an advent of the 1930s, when scientists began isolating those properties of food and documenting the ways in which nutrients interact with the body. As with the long history of anything, it is tempting to look for progress and evolution in the narrative, but Dr Andrew Weil and Dr Oz are the John Harvey Kellogg and Frank Orth of the industry today.

The disinformation charlatans contribute to the culture of nutrition makes skeptics like me see nothing but fad diets, when I might actually benefit from making changes to my lifestyle and eating habits.

Dioscorides' Materia Medica, c. 1334 copy in Arabic,
describes medicinal features of cumin and dill.

Do herbal remedies count as food? Is a remedy medicine?

What is medicine? For the purposes of this blog, I will define medicine as a preparation that you participate in, or ingest, to prevent, or treat, sickness. For example, I'm sick... almost in a general way, but it has become overwhelming, so I am experimenting with the anti-inflammatory diet to feel better. The diet itself is prepared by others and I am both participating in it and ingesting it. I am treating the diet as medicine, but I am also treating each meal as medicine, which I prepare (or someone else prepares for me, lucky me).

In doing so, I am participating in the long history of using food as medicine. Even chocolate as medicine has a long history.

The earliest evidence for the medical use of chocolate are to be found in Mesoamerican civilizations: iconographic works and fragments, writings and remnants in the pottery suggest that cacao was prepared in beverage form at least as early as 600 B.C.

But before you bite into that Hershey bar, read the ingredients. Food can hurt you! For centuries, the history of food as medicine tells us we should be careful of what we eat. Morning cartoons were teaching us this in the 1990s.

Moreover, Hershey has played an insidious role in the history of food as medicine for its use of child labour. Nestle is worse with its scandalous baby formula history.

So, while the history of food as medicine is long, it has become most interesting in the last 100-200 years. We've learned a lot about what food can do to improve health, while encountering some cautionary tales. Like the video says, we shouldn't eat food from strangers, like Hershey and Nestle. Read the labels. Has it been approved/inspected by the FDA? Treating food as medicine means not ingesting it, if we don't know what it is!

To find out more about my journey in exploring food as medicine, like my Facebook page.

Chronic Inflammation Quiz

Answer eleven questions to find out if you should be worried about chronic inflammation.

To find out more about my journey in exploring food as medicine, like my Facebook page.