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

This week Eating to Live on the Outside is back in the Big Apple—New Yawk City! And our destination? Sullivan Street between West 3rd and Bleecker, the home of Sacred Chow Vegan Bistro. Right off the bat I can tell you Scared Chow is well above standard American restaurants like The Office and Houlihan's, but it’s still got some glitches that I’d be careful about. Okay, let’s take a look.

The first dish to snatch my attention was the Four Seasons Salad. Why? Well for starters it’s got beets in it, and Dr. Fuhrman speaks very highly of beets. So that’s a plus. It also comes with seasonal greens, carrots, apples, Dijon vinaigrette, and crunchy yuba strips. Of course I’ll go easy on the salad dressing, but the yuba strips also give me pause. Yuba is made from soy. Now I’ve got nothing against soy. I drink soy milk and I eat tofu on occasion, but it’s still processed food. Sure, it’s better than croutons, so unlike croutons I won’t omit them from the salad, but I won’t exactly feel bad about eating around most of them. I tend to be very discriminating about my soy. How about you?

The Grilled Western Tofu Hero is also looking mighty tasty. Its toasted whole wheat Italian bread stuffed with thickly sliced western tofu, dill soy-mayonnaise, baby greens, and cheese. Oh, it also comes with something called Chow slaw (I’m guessing its vegan coleslaw) and a pickle—I love pickles! Now I know I just said I’m picky about my tofu, I swear I am! But out of all the sandwiches on Sacred Chow’s menu, the Grilled Western most appeals to me. Granted, soy-mayonnaise and soy cheese aren’t exactly my favorite foods, but most of the other heroes are made with seitan, and seitan doesn’t really appeal to my taste buds. So for me, the Grilled Western is the best fit. I’m certain others will feel differently. And yes, I can live with the bread. I’ll just stay focused on all those baby greens!

Now this brings me to my next selection—or should I say—my next massive quandary. Tapas, what the heck is it? I don’t know! So I looked it up, and according to Wikipedia its olives. It’s also fried squid, flat bread, larded pork meat slices, sausage slowly cooked in wine, cured cheese with anchovies, and a whole host of other things. Again, I’m an Italian from Jersey, I didn’t exactly grow up on Tapas. Okay, since Wikipedia failed me, I turned to Webster—no not Emmanuel Lewis—the dictionary! According Merriam-Webster, tapas is an hors d'oeuvre. Oh! Well that makes Scared Chow’s tapas offerings a lot easier to comprehend. Alright, now that that’s out of the way, time to order a tapas or two.

Scared Chow has a lot of tapas options. So many that it looks like they actually encourage you to make a meal out of them. Three for twelve bucks is a pretty good deal if you ask me. So if I had to pick three, what would I order? Okay, first I’m going with the Dijon Marinated Raw Kale. As Dr. Fuhrman’s blogger, I think he would personally strangle me if I didn’t pick the kale—so that one’s a keeper. Next I’m going with the Sautéed Shiitake Mushrooms with Toasted Sunflower Seeds. I like mushrooms and I like sunflower seeds, so I’m going out on a limb here, but I think this combination will be nothing but good times. And finally, I’ll throw the Vegetable of the Day into the mix. Why? Because I like surprises—no, that’s not true, I’m too neurotic for surprises. So I’d just sit back and hope for a really good veggie, like zucchini or Chinese eggplant.

So there you have it, that’s how I’d pay homage to the Sacred Chow. How about you? Send us your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Sacred Chow’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Do you remember The French Laundry? No—it’s not like a French kiss! It’s a restaurant, located in Yountville California, voted one of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants of 2006, and, we examined it for Eating to Live on the Outside back in November. Okay, you’re probably saying to yourself, “And?” Well it seems my French needs a little—a lot of work. Because evidently this excerpt is a demonstration in translation futility:

And as always, nous voulons vos réactions! Nous dire que vous pourriez avoir fait différemment. Payer la note le menu français de la Lessive et savons comment que vous Mange pour Habiter sur l'Extérieur? Partir un commentaire ou nous envoie un e-mail à diseaseproof@gmail.com.

How’d I discover my lingual shortcomings? Well actually, I didn’t, and I probably never would have because foreign languages aren’t exactly my strong suit. Put it to you this way, I’m full-blooded Italian, most of my family speaks fluent Italian, and in fact my mother was born in Italy, but I barely managed to eek by with a B- in Italian I & II. Did I mention my mother did all my homework too? So I wasn’t the least bit surprised when I received this email from Amy:

I was delighted to come across "Eat to Live on the Outside" and was making notes of places to go when I was stumped by your notes at the bottom of your "French Laundry" commentary. It was so adorably badly written that I re-read it about a dozen times and consulted earlier entries to try to figure out what you were trying to say. Perhaps someone has already pointed it out to you but I thought you might be entertained by a translation of what you wrote:


"We want your reactions! Us tell that you could have done differently. Pay the bill the French menu of The Laundry and we know how you Eat in order to Dwell on top of the Exterior? Depart a comment or us send an email to..."

I'm sure that you hardly meant the French to be taken at all seriously I apologize for being such a smarty-pants but I used to edit French translations and I just couldn't help myself. Please continue to keep writing the helpful pieces and thanks for the laugh.

Well, if it’s “adorably badly written” then that must mean in a roundabout sort of way she’s calling me cute. I’m cute! I’m cute! I’m cute! Sorry, my apologies to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And actually, I can’t assume total responsibility for this. I just used some random online translation tool. Hey, let’s see what happens when we try to translate some other popular DiseaseProof terminology into French. Keep your eyes peeled for errors, Amy—wink, wink:

• Low-carb loonies = Le bas-carb timbré
• Nutrient-dense = Nutritif-dense
• Vegetable-based = Légume-basé
• Standard American Diet = Le Régime américain standard
• The Misinformation of Barry Groves and Weston Price = La Désinformation de Bosquets de Barry et de Weston Evalue
• Cruciferous vegetables = Cruciferous legumes
• Phytonutrients = Phytonutrients
• Eat to Live = Manger pour Habiter
• Disease-Proof Your Child = La maladie-preuve Votre Enfant
• Sushi For Your Tootsie = Le sushi Pour Votre Tootsie
• Sweet Beet Carrot Bars = La Carotte douce de Betterave Barre
• Flaxseeds = Graines de lin
• Kale = Chou frisé

Now I’m not a betting man, but I’d venture to say that most of those are seriously wrong—or should I say, “sérieusement mauvais.” What do you think Amy? Oh, and thanks for the feedback! It’s always appreciated. Just email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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You know, the past two weeks of Eating to Live on the Outside have been a piece of cake—or should I say a piece of fruit. It all started with Mesob Ethiopian Restaurant, an extremely veggie-friendly dining establishment in Montclair New Jersey. And then last week we were wowed by the New York City based Angelica Kitchen and their organic vegan cooking. But what about this week, what does fate have in store for us?

Now I’ve never been to Boston, but if I ever make a trip to Bean Town I’ll be sure to stop by Happy Buddha. Come on, you’ve got to love a place named Happy Buddha! Everyone loves to rub those Buddha belly statues. And speaking of bellies, stuffing yourself at Happy Buddha will hardly leave you regretting it in the morning. Okay, let’s see what this Buddha has to offer.

When you look at Happy Buddha’s menu you’ll see it contains an entire section comprised of vegetarian dishes. You know what that means? A ton of phytonutrients! If you recall previous installments of Eating to Live on the Outside, you’ll see that I’m not against eating meat. In fact, I’ll eat chicken or fish from time to time, but in the presence of all these vegetable-based options, who needs the rest of menu? So even though I eat meat, I’m ditching all the non-vegetarian dishes and focusing exclusively on the veggie fare.

Okay, as far as the appetizers go, I like the Fresh Spring Rolls. They’re prepared with tofu, shredded lettuce, mint, vermicelli wrapped in rice paper, and peanut sauce. I really like tofu, so this is a great option for me. The only thing that gives me pause is the vermicelli, after all its pasta, and pasta is nothing more than refined grains. But, I can live with it. I’ll just distract myself with the other ingredients, not to mention the phytonutrients. I guess if I were really feeling guilty about the vermicelli, I could go ahead and order the Watercress Soup. It comes with fresh tofu, watercress, and vegetable broth. Nope, I don’t see any serious concessions here. Do you?

A couple salads also caught my eye. The Papaya Salad includes shredded green papaya, peanuts, basil, and lime dressing. And the Watercress Salad is made with watercress, tomatoes, onions, and vinaigrette dressing. Now, I guess to play it safe I could order the dressing on the side and limit the amount I consume, but all those phytonutrients extinguish my worries about a little salad dressing. Also, I don’t eat out very often, so it’ll take more than some vegetable oil to make me uptight.

Now here’s where it gets a little tricky. Apparently most of the vegetarian entrees are fried, and fried is hardly Eating to Live. I can deal with some oil olive on my salad, but food prepared in a boiling oil bath—not the best idea. Alright, for starters I’m avoiding all the veggie-meat, why? One, I don’t like the way they taste. And two, they’re probably loaded with salt. So I’ll pass. What’s left? The Broccoli with Tofu looks good. Although I’m not sure if this one is fried, I’d ask the wait staff about it. If it is, I guess there’s no harm in asking if they can steam it instead. The Medley Vegetables with Tofu is other solid option. Again, you might want to inquiry about how it’s cooked. Finally, the Happy Buddha’s Feast looks really good. It’s stir-fried, but given the amount of veggies, I’d have a hard time resisting. It’s prepared with broccoli, red peppers, green peppers, carrots, mushrooms, baby corn, peapods, string beans, Chinese broccoli, and bamboo shoots. Would you agree? That’s a lot of phytnutrients! So in this case I can deal with the oil. Let me know how you feel about it.

So even though it got a little hairy at the end, I still think Happy Buddha is a good place for an Eat to Liver to wind up eating. Granted, fried anything is a valid reason for concern, but remember Eating to Live on the Outside is usually an experiment in comparison. And compared to places like Fazoli’s, Denny’s, and Friendly’s, Happy Buddha is a heaven-sent—or more appropriately, a Nirvana-sent.

Don’t forget, we want your feedback! Check out Happy Buddha’s menu and let us know how Eat to Live on the outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Eating to Live on the Outside can be a chore. Not in general mind you, only when I’m amidst a string of standard American restaurants. You know them, places like Fazoli’s, Tony Roma’s, Houlihan's, Denny’s, Friday’s, and Don Pablo’s. Apparently ending in “‘s” is the calling card for junk food—with the exception of P.F. Chang’s and Luby’s of course. Don’t worry, this week’s restaurant doesn’t end in ‘s.

In fact, Angelica Kitchen is a Fuhrman-friendly masterpiece. Loads of veggie goodness smack-dab in the middle of the Big Apple—now that’s what I’m tawk’in about! And for all our vegans friends, you’ll love Angelica Kitchen because as their website proclaims, its “organic vegan cooking.” So onward, the menu awaits!

Now, in my opinion any of the meals Angelica Kitchen has to offer would make a great choice for Eat to Livers. The only concessions I see someone having to make would be for salad dressing or the various breads and noodles. Personally, I can live with all three. Okay, we’ve established that I’d order anything on the menu. So, I’ll just go ahead and give you the dishes that really caught my eye. Let me know what you think.

For starters, I like the Thai Mee Up—go ahead, get your giggles out. Raw fanatics will really like this one because according to the menu it’s all raw. Not to mention there’s a lot of good stuff in it too. Things like delicate strands of daikon radish, butternut squash, carrots, Thai Tahini sauce, and garlic-lemon marinated kale. Can you say phytonutrients? I can.

Now salads are always good. Take a look at this one. The Mixed Sprout is prepared with snow pea shoots, sunflower sprouts, mint, mixed cabbage, sunflower seeds, daikon, carrots, toasted peanuts, onion sprouts, watercress, and topped off with a cool mint vinaigrette. At the risk of sounding like a dork—this one is a real humdinger! The cool mint dressing would hardly stop me from gobbling up this creation.

If you remember from a previous post, I’m a sucker for sushi! So of course I dig the Normaki, not only does the name sound cool, but this dish could certainly quell my sushi-Jones, without the worry of contaminated fish. According to the menu the Norimaki is nine pieces of rolled vegetable sushi (the ingredients vary daily) served with wasabi, pickled ginger, and lemon-shoyu dipping sauce. The wasabi worries me—fickle stomach—but I’m cool with the pickled ginger and lemon dipping sauce. Anyone else a sushi fiend?

And finally—brace yourself—I’m actually going to order a dessert! Most restaurants, typically of the standard American variety, don’t offer any sweets an Eat to Liver would even remotely consider ordering. Not Angelica Kitchen. They’ve got a bunch. The one that most intrigues me is the Fruit Kanten Parfait with nut cream. Now nut cream is easy to figure out, but the heck is Kanten? Well, I googled it and it seems to be some kind of fruit-jello. Sounds good to me, and yes, I can live with the sugar. A guy’s got to have some fun from time to time.

So yeah, Angelica Kitchen is cool with me, next time I go into the city I’ll have to stop by. And I'll be sure to let you know. Now, as always we want to hear about how you handle eating away from home. What would you do different? Check out the Angelica Kitchen’s menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com or leave a comment.

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Okay Eat to Livers, the past two weeks have been a tough row to hoe. Let’s recap. Last week we found out that Don Pablo’s is a haven for the melted cheese connoisseur and the week before that, well, let’s just say you won’t find Fazoli’s faux-talian fast food on any Eat to Livers radar. But don’t fret, this week I’ve got a real winner—Mesob Ethiopian Restaurant!

Located in Montclair New Jersey, Mesob offers an array of Fuhrman-friendly dishes. In fact—get ready vegans—a large portion of the menu is comprised entirely of vegetable-based entrees prepared vegan style. And they all look great! I think healthy favorites like Just Salads, Go Raw Café, and Baja Fresh have some new competition. Well what are we waiting for? Let’s dive in!

You know its going to be good when even the appetizers are Fuhrman-friendly. At most standard American restaurants the word appetizer means deep-fried, triple-battered, or extra-cheesed. Not at Mesob. Three of their appetizers look really good: Azifa, Butcha, and Ingudai Tibs. Azifa is a lentil salad seasoned with red onions, garlic, jalapeno pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, and spices. The Butcha is pretty similar; prepared with pureed chickpeas, red onions, garlic, jalapeno pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, and spices. Now the Ingudai Tibs is a little different; Portobello mushroom marinated and sautéed with red onions, garlic, jalapeno pepper, fresh tomato, herbs, and spices. All three sound great, but because my stomach doesn’t take kindly to spicy stuff, I’d ask the waiter to omit the jalapeno. Oh, and the olive, I can live with it—just look at all those veggies!

As for the entrees, they’re looking mighty good too. Three of the dishes appear to be dinner-sized versions of Azifa, Butcha, and the Ingudai Tibs, so I’ll skip them. Okay, onto the others. The Gomen definitely appeals to my taste; fresh collard greens simmered in mild sauce seasoned with spice and herbs. I just can’t say no to leafy greens—I’ll take a double order please! I like the Atkilt Wat too; made with fresh green beans, fresh carrots, and simmered in a flavorful mild sauce. I’d be interested in knowing exactly what’s in the sauce, but I doubt it’d stop me from ordering it. The Tikile Gomen is along the same lines; cabbage and potatoes simmered in a mild sauce—cabbage is another favorite of mine. I also like the Kik Aletcha, again, pretty similar too the Atkilt Wat and Tikile Gomen; yellow peas simmered in a flavorful onion and herb sauce. Can you really say anything bad about this food? Concessions might be a thing of the past!

Mesob also offers a couple of spicy vegetable entrees, now, just because I won’t order them doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be excellent options for someone else. Between them they have lentils, split peas, garlic, and red onions. If it wasn’t for the heat—I’d be all over them!

Can I be honest for a second? I’ve never had Ethiopian food, and before I discovered Mesbo, I wouldn’t have had much to say about it. How lucky am I that Mesbo is only about an hour away from where I live? I think a visit is in order. I’ll keep you posted—that was a blogging pun in case you missed it. In the meantime if you have any Ethiopian cuisine stories, please let me know, and maybe I’ll blog about it.

Oh, and you know the drill, we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Mesob's menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Okay, back in September I asked the question, “Ever wonder what a menu would look like if practically every dish had cheese in it?” Remember the answer? Here are a few hints: cheddar, Monterey Jack, and blue cheese. See, I knew it would come back to you—The Desert Moon Fresh Mexican Grille!

So, why would I bring up this old nemesis? Because this week’s restaurant looks like what would happen if The Desert Moon cut the cheese—now that’s a great pun!—well, not all the cheese. Don Pablo’s menu is still really tough, an Eat to Liver certainly has some work to do before ordering, but, it wouldn’t be fun if it wasn’t a struggle, right? Okay, let’s take Don Pablo’s for a test drive.

The salad section of most menus is usually a sanctuary for Eat to Livers, you’ll find that to be true at Don Pablo’s too, but you’ve got to be very picky. That’s why I’m going with the Low-Carb Sizzling Fajita Salad. Low-carb? Yeah, I’d feel dirty ordering it too, but despite its namesake it’s pretty reasonable. This low-carb salad comes with fire-roasted squash, zucchini, mushrooms, asparagus, Loca sauce, and your choice of dressing. I’m digging the veggies and of course I’ll go easy on the dressing, but the “Loca sauce”? No way! Sounds spicy and I don’t do spicy. You can also order sirloin, chicken, or Mahi Mahi with the low-carb salad. I’ll go with the Mahi Mahi because according to OceansAlive.org it’s an Eco Best. Not bad right? No major concessions here.

The next item to snare my attention is the Portabella Mushroom and Vegetable Fajita. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking—flour tortillas? Congratulations, you just found the first concession. Get ready because here comes another one, the fajitas are served on a bed of saffron rice. Okay so right off the bat we’ve got two concessions—is it still worth ordering? I think so. This dish is prepared with refritos (refried beans), lettuce, Pico de Gallo, cheese, sour cream, guacamole (upon request), portabella mushrooms, corn, squash, zucchini, carrots, red bell peppers, tomatoes, and spinach. Wow! That’s a lot of veggies. So yeah, I think its worth ordering. But before I eat it, I’ve got a few alterations in mind—goodbye sour cream, cheese, and refritos! Now even though I love avocado, if the guacamole has any dairy in it, its gone too. I’d be sure to ask the wait staff about it. So despite the flour tortillas and the bed of rice, I’d feel pretty confident ordering this meal, after all, there are a lot of phytonutrients in those vegetables.

Now I want everyone to know I tried really hard to come up with some more menu selections, but as I mentioned earlier, Don Pablo’s menu is no joke. Sure, it’s better than The Desert Moon, but it’s hardly a picnic. Now I could have opted for a couple of the chicken-based dishes, but after months of doing this I find myself less and less drawn to chicken. This shouldn’t be a shocker to regular DiseaseProof readers because as I’ve admitted, the older I get the less I desire meat. I’m sure a lot of you can relate.

So the last menu selection I’d go for would be an amalgamation of Don Pablo’s side dishes. Actually, it’s not really an amalgamation, four out of the six sides I wouldn’t order. Sorry but sweet corn cake, refritos, Chile mashed potatoes, and Charra beans (beans cooked with bacon) don’t sound very appetizing. If I really wanted to play it safe a dish of black beans and garden vegetables would work, but if you ask me, it’s a little boring. I’d much prefer experimenting with one of the dishes I mentioned earlier. But hey, sometimes safer is better.

And remember if you’ve got an interesting Eating to Live on the Outside story we’d love to hear from you. Hey, we might even make a post out of it. Check out Don Pablo’s menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com with your ideas and stories or just leave a comment. Let us know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside?

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