mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

You can scroll the shelf using ← and → keys

Fall Superfood, The Sweet Potato

September 27, 2015 — 3 Comments

sweet potato vine

My food prep practice has helped me introduce more variety into our diet and reduce waste. I don’t aspire to fit all my preparation for the week into one day, like many of the serious preppers. My goal is to consolidate my cooking in order to have a few days each week free from major kitchen cleaning. The reward is so valuable to me that it inspires me to improve my strategy. I believe 3 days at leisure with a selection of prepared meals available is ideal for me because I do enjoy cooking. My perfect style is like having a delicatessen at home that never runs out of treats. Sometimes specialty items can be purchased to fill in for home-made, but cooking from scratch is what I like to do and the way I like to eat. Trader Joe’s helps me a lot when I don’t want to fuss, but I have a goal of eating more whole foods.

This autumn season I want to develop some new variations on some old themes. Chowder, chili, and cornbread are on the menu for savory foods. Tapioca pudding and bubble teas are on the new frontier of desserts. I like deconstructing desserts, then building small portions when I want a bite. Deconstructing lends itself to food prep, since you can create the elements to be combined later as desired.

There is one healthy food I want to include more often in new ways. That food is the mighty sweet potato. Most of the dishes I prepared in the past were sweet, like soufflé or sweet potato pie. I recently tried a savory sweet potato salad with cilantro, bell peppers, cumin and chiles. That savory recipe has inspired me to experiment with the spicy/savory realm. There are good reasons to include sweet potatoes in your diet:

Potassium rich
Fiber source
High in antioxidants
Low glycemic index

This healthy root vegetable will be featured on our fall table in as many new ways as possible. What is your favorite sweet potato recipe, gentle reader?

sweet potatoes

Diet of the Ancestors

September 7, 2015 — 4 Comments

The typical American diet is driving obesity, diabetes and heart disease to higher heights. Fad diets and processed shakes abound, but to heal the country of illness we need to return to whole foods. Factory farming and distribution call for processing, refrigeration or freezing. The end product often costs more to ship and preserve than it did to grow. The longer it is stored the more it costs to keep it frozen. The health of the nation would be better served by consuming food that has not been packaged or canned. I do, of course, eat some processed foods, but I am working to get back to basics. I want to improve my habits for the sake of the earth, and for the benefit of my health.

Coconut oil is now a daily part of my routine. I swish a tablespoon of oil in my mouth for 40 minutes each morning to kill cooties. The oil slides into all spaces and treats all surfaces in my mouth with anti-bacterial agents. I spit out the oil and rinse my super-clean feeling teeth to finish the process. On my last dental visit my dentist raved about the positive properties of coconut oil and extolled the virtues of eating it and using it topically. I let him know I was using it to kill bacteria since it seems to be working for me. My annual thermography report showed much less inflammation in my eye ear nose and throat than last year, and less in my digestive tract also. I am a fully committed oil puller. It takes some getting used to, but now I have the habit. It is one of the easiest things I can do to improve my health.

I think oral health has a big impact on the entire body. My dentist agrees. Today I learned about Dr Weston Price, a dentist with an interest in diet and anthropology. His popular ideas are still followed today. He determined that avoidance of artificial and refined sugars, fats, and flours that were not available before industrialization, could prevent disease. He recommended local nutrient dense foods that included a variety of natural fats. His view into the mouth of societies with ancestral diets showed him the wisdom of developing a palate for savory unprocessed foods. I am lucky to have time and circumstances that support home preparation of whole foods. I may not be able to give up sweet potato corn chips or my favorite jars of salsa, but at least I do eat them with home made guacamole.

Westin Price’s book