Warming Heart Soup

Organic Leeks, Garlic, Cabbage, Onions, Bok Choy

Organic Vegetable Broth, Hemp/Olive Oil

warming time: 30 minutes

The Soy Myth

“What kind of milk would you like?” The barista echoes as you weigh your options. You want to make a healthier choice than whole milk and less fat than 2%, so your first thought is soy. “Soy” you answer not knowing the detriment this substance can bring to your body.

Soy originated from Asian cultures from soybeans. It is a common ingredient in today’s culture. There is soymilk, soy proteins, and even soy burgers. Soy is “filler” for many cereals such as Kashi and is an ingredient that helps produce foods cheaper just like corn. America’s top leading ingredients for growing, adding into, or creating food are soy and corn.

Soy became popular in early 2000 as a health food and a beneficial alternative. This was a lot of marketing that allowed people to believe that soy could be beneficial when in fact soy is harmful.

According to Dr. Mercola, an alternative physician and author of health books soy can cause breast cancer, brain damage, thyroid diseases, kidney stones, infertility, and immune system failure. Just to name a few. Soy contains toxins that act as “anti-nutrients”. One of these toxins includes hemagglutin that causes your red blood cells to clump and create a blockage of oxygen to your tissues. Another toxin is goitrogens that break down your body’s ability for your thyroid to function. This harms the natural process of your metabolism.

So why if soy is so harmful is it in so many foods today? It’s cheap to grow and helps mass production in the food industry.

“The average American, of course, would not describe his or her diet as “soy based,” but soy ingredients are found in more than 60 percent of packaged and processed foods and nearly 100 percent of fast foods.   The plant-based diet fad has furthermore encouraged many health-conscious Americans to substitute soy products for both meat and dairy.   Although animal products would appear to be “soy free,” most commercial and health-food store eggs, milk and flesh foods contain residual isoflavones from soy-based feeds.” Dr. Kaayla Daniel's groundbreaking book, The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food is a great resource if you are more interested in the harms of soy.

Along with soy being a creation from chemists, it is also genetically modified in the United States. Genetically modified is the human manipulation of a substance to receive the outcome desired. Genetically modification began to impair resistance to herbicides such as Roundup when the crops such as soybeans were being grown. The only reason behind this creation is because of time and money efficiency.

Next time you’re at the coffee shop or grocery store choose an alternative to soy such as hemp, which comes from hemp seeds that are high in protein or almond, which is from the nut that is high in antioxidants.

Starbucks does not carry any alternatives to soy, but other local Seattle coffee shops such as The Flying Apron in Fremont or Café Fiore in Queen Anne carry alternatives such as almond, rice, and hemp milk. Talk about this and educate your friends so more alternatives can be started at larger chains and available in more grocery stores. 

Don’t Zap the Nutrients Out!

You went out last night for some amazing Thai food, but you couldn’t finish it all so you brought it home for the next day. When you’re ready to eat it, what’s your first thought of how to heat it up? Microwaves are the most common in today’s culture. Throw it in the microwaves for a couple minutes and let it heat up, or as your grandma might like to say “let me zap it real quick for you”, then enjoy your warm meal.

What could be the harm in this?

Microwaves were invented after World War II by Percy Spencer who took the idea from radar technology acquired from the War around the mid to late 1940’s. The first microwave weighed as much as a refrigerator now does. As time passes we notice how inventions evolve and improve.

Now microwaves can weigh as little as thirty pounds. Quite some progress, but even so we have to take a step back and look at our needs to have everything be so instant. Taking a step back isn’t always negative. 

            According to Mark Bunn, the bestseller author of, Ancient wisdom for modern health, wrote, “ microwaves don’t actually ‘cook’ your food at all. They basically just heat up the water content of the food and cause the food particles to resonate at very high frequencies.” You’re food than doesn’t even get cook, but instead is ‘raw’ with less nutrients from the levels of radiation caused by microwaves.

           

            Natural news, a respected health e-newsletter brings up all types of issues. They recently wrote an article specifically addressing the harmful effects of microwaves,  “A microwave oven creates radio waves at a frequency of about 2.45 GHz [2, 3]. All radio waves are electromagnetic radiation.” For all those left-brain chemist types this will make perfect sense, but for the right-brained let me translate. Basically the more extreme that something is microwaved and the quicker it takes the more nutrients that are unable to remain in what is being microwaved.

            What are some alternatives then?

How about the oven, usually found underneath a stove, turn the dial and heat up your food. How is this any different though? A microwave has a much stronger electronic field than an oven.

Also it is a well known fact that raw foods are much richer in nutrients than cooked foods of any sorts, so trying keeping your meal simple and go back to nature with a bag of raw carrots and some guacamole.

Sources: (History of Microwaves, general knowledge, but wanted to make sure to cite it) Thanks!

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/microwave.htm

Detox

Was your holiday filled with pumpkin pie, roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, a little bit of eggnog, and endless amounts of sweets? If not, then you’re already ahead of the crowd, if you are in this category, you may be thinking, “Help!” Not to worry, take a deep breath, and let’s discuss detox.

First off, detoxing is a way to cleanse and re-start the body. Think of your body like a battery, sometimes you just need to a kick-start to get back on track.

Twenty-one days is what is recommended to start new habits and release the addiction or routine of habits. Eating certain foods, especially sweets have a way of being addictive and allowing your body to feel drained without them, but then your body jumps on a roller coaster with them, and goes from a quick high to an inevitable low.

Kris Carr, the author of Crazy Sexy Diet, goes off the idea of “21 days” and personally creates an intense detox for the body. “Detoxification is as necessary for life as the beating of the heart. Our cells are constantly forming toxins as normal waste products of metabolism. The cells release the toxins into the blood; within a few heartbeats, the toxins are swept into the liver for detoxification.”

While being a Seattle Pacific University student, it’s hard to obtain the freshest of organic produce and the ability to take a lot of time out of your busy schedules to focus completely on your body. Don’t throw this article out just yet; there are a few easy, dorm-accessible ways to detox the body.

Start your mornings out with a glass of water, simple. Add a lemon and a dash of cayenne pepper, if you don’t have any cayenne pepper at hand, the lemon will do. Keep water as your weapon and always have a reusable BPA-free bottle at hand. Water helps to cleanse the body and release free radicals that basically just keep the body’s system from letting go.

According to Dr. John Dempster, a local naturopath, his top ten-detox foods include lemon. Along with the lemon Dempster talks about the high amounts of fiber in beets that help to eliminate the bodies’ toxic waste. Broccoli sprouts have twenty times the amounts of sulphorophanes than regular broccoli. Sulphorophanes has anti-cancer principles that help in the detox process. Garlic and Curcumin, also known as Turmeric, are the top powerful detoxifiers due to their high levels of sulphur.  Next time you are out for sushi, don’t hesitate to order the seaweed salad or stop at the store and grab some crunchy sea vegetables to help purify your blood. Dandelion leaves can be added to salads or as a snack that is full of antioxidants. Apples make sure to get USDA organic, have the ability to help your body release food additives that is a main factor in that holiday pie.

Pick and choose out of these options and try for a minimum of twenty-one days to start off 2013 right and give your body the TLC it needs and deserves.

Sources:

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/09/01/top-ten-detoxifying-foods_n_933388.html#s335801&title=Artichoke_

2. http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/health/crazy-sexy-detox?page=2

Sprouted Greens

Organic Rainbow Chard, Dandelion Greens, Mushrooms, Onions, Garlic

Sauteed with Hemp Oil, Himalayan Salt and Spices/Herbs

Organic Quinoa Sprouted with Sea Kelp Seasoning 

Rainbow Dream

Organic Rainbow Chard, Cauliflower, Mushrooms, Garlic, and Onions

Sautéed with Hemp Oil and Spices

Seeds for Change

Organic Rainbow Chard, Mushrooms, Onions, Garlic

Sautéed with Hemp Oil and Himalayan Pink Salt

Topped with Avocado and Seeds

Simplicity of Color

Organic Onions and Garlic

Sautéed in Hemp oil

Organic Rainbow chard and mushrooms

Topped with an Avocado

Orange Shock

Organic onions, garlic, fennel, beets, orange cauliflower, broccolini, kale, mushrooms, parsley, and cilantro
Sautéed with olive oil
Organic spinach and mushroom gluten free Lundberg risotto

Omega Attack

Organic broccoli, eggplant, rainbow chard, onions, garlic, fennel, mushrooms
Sautéed with organic olive oil
Topped with herbs, spices, and Himalayan salt
Wild Alaskan salmon