Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

From Dr. Fuhrman's book Disease Proof Your Child.

Berries: Add berries to morning cereals. Make dessert sorbets from frozen berries. My kids love frozen strawberries blended with an orange or orange juice. We usually add a slice of dried pineapple and use our Vita-Mix to make a smooth and delicious strawberry sorbet.

Greens: Make steamed greens with a cashew butter cream sauce. Kids love it. We blend raw cashews and a few dried onion flakes with some soy milk and make a great sauce for chopped kale or broccoli.

Seeds: Seeds are super nutritious wonder foods. Try sprinkling some lightly toasted unhulled sesame seeds and sunflower seeds on salads and vegetables. We like to grind some into a powder and use it like salt on food.

Beans: Beans are fiber and nutrient packed. They give soups that chewy goodness and long-lasting satiety. Add a mixture of split peas, lentils, and adzuki beans to soups and simmer over low heat for about three hours.

Tomatoes: Tomatoes are a wonderful food in their own class. Whether you consider them a fruit or vegetable, it matters not. Slice them into pita pocket sandwiches. Mash some almond butter with a fork into some tomato sauce to add to the vegetable-tomato-sprout avocado pita pocket. What a great school lunch.

Here are some fab-five-ulous recipes:

Mild Bean Chutney
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup diced green peppers
½ lemon
½ cup diced red onions
1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
1 cup chickpeas
1 cup frozen green peas, defrosted
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon wine vinegar or raisin vinegar
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup red kidney beans
1 cup black beans

Add the tomatoes to a small covered pot and steam the shredded cabbage, carrots, and green peppers for only 5 minutes on the lowest flame possible in the pot. Stir in juice of ½ lemon and the diced red onions, corn, peas, spices, and beans. Serve cold on top of shredded lettuce. Serves 4-6.

Red-Hot Hummus
1 cup canned (unsalted) chickpeas
3 tablespoons unhulled raw sesame seeds
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pinch of chili powder to taste

Blend ingredients in blender or food processor until creamy. If necessary, add a small amount of water to assist in blending. Serve as dip or sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, and sprouts. Serves 4.

Blueberry and Flax Yogurt
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
½ cup regular soy milk
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
3 medjool or 6 Deglet Noor dates

Blend until smooth. Chill and serve. Great for school lunches too. Serves 1.

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Hungry? Try these eggplant inspired creations...

Eggplant Patties

2 eggplants, peeled and sliced
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. finely chopped rosemary
1 pinch of black pepper
1 pinch of oregano
1 tbsp. Bragg's Liquid Aminos

Slice eggplant into 1/3 inch-thick-patties. Mix together all ingredients in a flat-bottom bowl. Let the eggplant patties marinate in the mixture for 15-20 seconds. Wet napkin with olive oil and wipe down a nonstick baking tray or aluminum foil, creating a thin coat of oil. Then bake the eggplant on the tray or sheet of aluminum foil at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Mushrooms can be used instead of or in addition to the eggplant.

Mediterranean Eggplant and Beans

1 eggplant, peeled and diced
1 onion, sliced thinly
1 green pepper, chopped
½ cup raisins
1 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. ketchup
2 cups garbanzo or other beans, cooked or canned

Steam the eggplant for 10-12 minutes. Cook the onion and pepper over a low flame in a covered skillet with 2 tablespoons of water for 6-8 minutes. Then add the eggplant, raisins, lemon juice, and ketchup and simmer uncovered for another 5 minutes. Mix in the beans.

Rolled Eggplant

1 eggplant, peeled and sliced into thin, flat, wide strips
1 pepper, diced (red or green)
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups nonfat tomato sauce

Bake eggplant in a lubricated pan at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until flexible. Saute pepper, onion, and garlic in water to make the filling. Take the strips of partially cooked eggplant and roll them up with the filling mix in the middle. Cover with nonfat tomato sauce and bake at 250 degrees for another 30 minutes.

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Nuts and seeds are a natural part of the diet of homo-sapiens. They are perfectly adapted to the taste and ability of humans to pick, dry, store, and crack. No wonder study after study shows raw nuts and seeds not only lower cholesterol, but protect against common diseases of aging. I recommend almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios, macadamias, filberts, and walnuts; and sunflower, sesame, flax, and pumpkin seeds. These delicious natural foods are high in nutrients and healthful unsaturated fats.

Nuts are an excellent natural food. Because they have hard shells and are picked off large trees with deep roots, nuts are relatively well protected from pesticides and environmental pollution. Nuts are a clean source of the healthful type of fats. They also are a good source of protein, which makes up about 15 to 25 percent of their calories.

Nuts and seeds are wonderful foods that can help ensure that your children develop healthy bodies and minds. In fact, one important key to your children's ongoing good health is to eliminate dairy products (low-nutrient foods, containing saturated fat) from their diets and make raw nuts and seeds (high-nutrient foods, containing unsaturated fat) their major source of fat.

Avoid roasted and salted nuts; they lose too many beneficial compounds. However, it is okay to place nuts in the toaster oven on low for a minute or two to enhance the crispness and flavor.

Try these nutty recipes:

Peach Ice Cream with Nut Pie Shell

16 oz. frozen sliced peaches
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup ground walnuts
1/2 cup ground macadamias
1/2 cup ground pecans
4 coconut-date rolls

Make the nut crust by kneading the ground nuts with the date rolls and pressing into the bottom of a glass pie pan. Blend the frozen peaches with the soymilk and spoon into nut crust before serving.

Golden Delicious Cheese

1 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup raw blanched almonds
2 golden delicious apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

Grind the cashews and almonds into a powdered meal in a VitaMix or coffee grinder, and then blend the ground nuts with the apple slices. Spread the mixture into a flat storage dish, uncovered, and store in the refrigerator until it hardens, somewhat like cheese.

Also try this recipe for Date Nut Pop 'Ems.

Going nuts looking for organic nuts? Check out Jaffe Bros. at www.organicfruitsandnuts.com.

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Black and Blue Beans and Greens
½ cup black beans
½ cup white beans
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves, chopped
½ tsp. Mrs. Dash seasoning
1 tsp. VegiZest
1 bunch of kale, chopped or sliced in strips, stems removed
3 medium white onions
10 oz. spinach, chopped or sliced in strips (or one box frozen spinach)
4 small zucchini
Small bunch fresh dill, chopped

Start cooking the beans in 3 cups of water with the bay leaf, garlic, and seasonings. Then peel the onions and add them along with the spinach, zucchini, kale, and dill on top of the cooking beans and let simmer over a low flame for at least 2 hours. Then stir up the mixture well, breaking up the zucchini and onion now that they are soft and mushy.

Squash Fantasia
1 cup dried apricots
½ cup raisins or currants
1 cup orange juice
4 butternut squashes
¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds

Soak dried apricots and raisins in orange juice overnight. Cut squash in half, scoop out seed bowl, and remove seeds. Place in baking dish with ¼ inch of water at the bottom and cover lightly with silver foil. Bake in oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, chop apricots and raisins in food processor or hand chopper. Chop sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in food processor or hand chopper. Mix seeds and moist dried fruits together. Remove the squash from the oven and scoop the seed-fruit mix into the bowl of the squash. Add a little more orange juice if necessary to fill the bowl. Bake for 15 more minutes. Remove the squash from oven and serve as is, or for children mash the squash, mixing it with fruit/mix before serving.

Pita Apple Bake
2 apples, chopped
¼ cup raisins (optional)
2 tbsp. water or apple juice
1 tbsp. ground flaxseed (optional)
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1 whole-wheat pita, split and separated

Heat the apples, raisins (if desired), and water or juice over a low flame for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and mix in flaxseed and cinnamon. Cut pita in half and fill with apple mixture. Toast in the toaster oven on high for 3 minutes. Try it with other fruits, like pears or peaches, too.

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