HEALTHY DINNER RECIPES

Whenever planning for dinner, be also thinking of lunches – BUY AND COOK EXTRA - PLAN FOR LEFTOVERS! 

Simple Baked Rosemary Chicken

This recipe is so simple, yet so delicious (and it’s quick and easy to prepare and cook). One of the keys is using quality chicken, and quality seasonings – sea salt, cracked pepper, and fresh rosemary, if possible. IMPORTANT TIP: Buy and cook extra chicken so you have leftovers for lunches and snacks.

6-8 whole chicken legs (more if you want leftovers)
sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
Optional: fresh or dried rosemary, chopped

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Cut chicken legs into drumsticks and thighs for easier handling and quicker cooking (using a sharp knife, feel for joint gap to determine where to cut; or ask your butcher to do it for you – they’re usually happy to do so)
• Season the legs and thighs on both sides with sea salt and cracked pepper
• Place chicken pieces skin-side up in pan
• Season moderately with rosemary (optional)
• Bake for 35-45 minutes until browned

Halibut with Artichoke Hearts and Roasted Red Peppers

This is very easy and quick to prepare and the clean up is a snap because the fish is cooked in foil.

5-6 oz. boneless halibut filet per person (can substitute haddock, cod, sole, tillapia,  or snapper)
olive oil (can be omitted if using artichokes packed in oil) 

lemon slices 

marinated fire roasted red peppers (comes in jar – Trader Joe’s carries them) 

marinated artichoke hearts (in oil, water or marinated), drained [use entire jar for serving four]

Kalamata olives
1/2 tablespoon basil 

sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 375°
• Place a sheet of foil on a cookie sheet (can substitute parchment paper);  drizzle olive on on foil. NOTE: you may have to make more than one foil ‘package’
• Arrange fish on foil
• Drizzlef fish with olive oil
• Top with lemon slices and arrange artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, and olives over the top and around the sides of the fish
• Season with basil, sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
• Fold up foil or parchment like a package, making sure the seam is at the top, folding the ends, to seal the ingredients inside
• Transfer to a baking sheet and bake until fish is just cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes (this will vary on how much fish you’re cooking and how thickthe fish filets are); don’t overcook.
• Transfer package to a plate and BE CAREFUL careful when opening the packages to release steam before serving. 

Chanya’s Spaghetti with Brown Rice Noodles

In our efforts to keep our kids from gluten and its negative health consequences, but still allowing them some starches that they desire, we use brown rice noodles (available at Trader Joe’s and health food markets).

2 lbs organic (grass fed) ground beef or ground turkey (or 1 ½ lbs. turkey sausage removed from casing)
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 16 oz. jar tomato marinara sauce
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (or 1 teaspoon each of marjoram, oregano, basil and parsley)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or 1/4 cup red wine (optional – balsamic vinegar cuts acidity of tomatoes; red wine does the same and sedates your kids; just kidding, alcohol cooks off in minutes)
2 tablespoons olive, sunflower or grape seed oil
Note: If you’re eating a Paleo gluten-free and grain-free diet, no noodles.

• In a large stock pot (12 qt minimum), cook meat or sausage for 4-6 minutes over medium heat (don’t overcook – the meat’s going back into the sauce later to simmer)
• Remove meat to separate bowl using slotted spoon
• Add oil, onion and garlic and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes
• Add chopped tomatoes, cook for 4-5 minutes
• Add chopped vegetables – except shredded zucchini - cook for 4-5 minutes
• Add canned tomatoes, marinara sauce, balsamic vinegar (optional), and sea salt to taste, reduce heat to low and simmer for at least one hour
• 15 minutes before serving, add meat and shredded zucchini (and any meat juice left in the bowl) and start water boiling to cook brown rice noodles
• Cook brown rice pasta of choice (available at Trader Joe’s or whole food/health food market)

Dr. K’s Delicious Chicken Thighs

I really prefer chicken thighs over breasts due to the flavor that dark meat and fat adds. Buy and cook extra for leftovers for lunch.

1-2 chicken thighs per person; these can be boneless, skinless or bone-in
sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
[I have also used "Greek Seasoning" but I'm not confident that MSG is not included in as 'spices' in the ingredients]

• Preheat oven to 375° OR light barbecue grill to medium
• Liberally season the thighs on both sides with sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
• If cooking in the oven, place on a cooking sheet or baking dish
• OVEN: for boneless, skinless, bake for 20-22 minutes; for bone-in, bake for 35 minutes
• GRILL: boneless, skinless – 4-6 minutes per side; bone-in – 6-8 minutes, being careful of flare-ups from the skin fat – can move to indirect heat away from flame

Shepherd’s Pie

This is incredibly delicious and satisfying for all ages (serves four)

1 ½  lbs of ground beef, lamb, or turkey (or a mixture)
2 cups coarsely chopped vegetables (or bag of frozen mixed vegetables – watch out though for MSG in frozen veggies)
4-5 small to medium potatoes (Yukon gold or red potatoes) cut in quarters
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 stick of organic butter, softened
Sea salt and cracked pepper to taste
Optional: ½ cup grated raw milk cheese

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Steam quartered potatoes until soft (approx. 12-15 minutes)
• Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil for 2 minutes over low to medium heat
• Add ground meat; cook another 5-7 minutes over medium heat
• Add vegetables to meat pan; cook for 2-3 minutes
• Pour into square, rectangular baking pan, dish or casserole
• Mash potatoes with butter, salt and pepper to taste (and optional cheese) and spread on top of meat and vegetables
• Because all ingredients have been cooked, bake for only 20 minutes

Rack of Lamb

There are certain dishes that are very expensive in restaurants, but when made at home can be a reasonable ‘treat’; Rack of Lamb is one of them. Unfortunately most U.S. domestic lamb is grain fed; the good news is that Costco sells Australian lamb, which is pasture fed. 

1 rack of Australian or New Zealand lamb (feeds two people)
sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
Optional: fresh garlic, chopped

• Can be cooked in the oven or on a grill, using indirect heat
• If using oven, preheat to 425°; if using a grill, light both sides initially to get heat grill
• Season liberally on both sides using sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper; top with chopped garlic (optional)
• FOR OVEN: Place lamb fat side down up on flat roasting pan; bake for 25-28 minutes, turning over half way through cooking
• FOR GRILL: Once grill is hot, turn one side of grill OFF – place lamb fat side up, on the ‘off’ side, but very close to the heated side; cook for 12 minutes and turn over with fat side down; close cover on grill.
• NOTE: It’s desirable to keep the lamb close to the flame or heat but NOT DIRECTLY over it – the fat will cause a flare up – KEEP AN EYE ON IT WHILE IT’S COOKING.

Filet Mignon with Burnt Garlic

Note from Dr. Paul: There are certain dishes that are very expensive in restaurants, but when made at home can be a reasonable ‘treat’. Two come to mind: rack of lamb ($15 from Costco serves two), and organic grass-fed filet mignon ($22 serves two). It’s no secret that I love fat and one of my beefs with filet mignon is that, although it’s sooooo tender, it lacks flavor due to the absence of fat. On this recipe I borrowed from the French who know how to finish a filet – top it with a flavorful sauce (usually made with butter).

1 (6-8 oz.) organic grass fed filet mignon per person (if the filets are large they can be sliced in half sideways before cooking) 
3 medium to large cloves garlic per two people
3 tablespoons organic butter (don’t blame me, it’s the French’s fault)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar or red wine
1 tablespoon cooking sherry (optional)
sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper

• This is a one pan dish – minimal clean up!
• Liberally season organic beef filets with sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
• Melt 2 tablespoons organic butter in a medium to large fry pan (depending on how many filets you’re cooking) over medium heat (do not use non-stick cookware)
• Add steaks, cooking 2-4 minutes per side DEPENDING ON HOW THICK your steaks are; be careful not to overcook.
• Remove steaks from pan and set aside near stove to stay warm
• Add garlic, balsamic vinegar or wine and sherry and 1 tablespoon butter into the same pan the steaks were just cooking in. Stir and scrape everything in pan together. Don’t be alarmed when the garlic burns – that crispy garlic is what makes this dish super yummy.

Kratka Stroganoff

This is one of the tastiest recipes I make!  You will definitely want to make extra of this for leftovers. - Dr. Paul 

2 lbs organic grass fed ground beef or bison (can substitute filet tails, tri-tip, or flank steak, cut into strips)
1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons organic butter
2 tablespoons brown rice flour (or wheat flour)
1 cup organic beef broth (can substitute organic chicken broth)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons organic sour cream
1/4 cup red wine (optional)
sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

cooked brown rice (instructions below) 

• If serving over brown rice, cook rice ahead: bring three cups of water to boil; add 1-1/2 cup brown rice, stir, reduce heat to very low, cover and cook for 45-50 minutes.
• Spread out meat and season liberally with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
• In a large skillet, melt 1-1/2 tablespoons butter; add onion and cook over medium heat until soft and translucent
• In a small saucepan, heat the beef broth until boiling, reduce heat
• In another small saucepan, melt one and one-half tablespoons butter; add the flour and stir with wire whisk until blended; add heated broth all at once to butter-flour mixture, stirring well with the whisk until thickened and smooth. Stir in Dijon mustard.
• Add meat to large skillet with cooked onion; cook through but not too much; reduce heat and add red wine
• Add sour cream to the mustard sauce and heat to almost boiling
• Add sauce to meat pan and stir to mix
• Serve by itself, or over brown rice

Baked Salmon Mediterranean Style

Any fish of your choosing can be substituted in this recipe.

1 4-6oz wild caught salmon filet or steak per person (no farm raised – they’re fed wrong and the water is polluted; and, they often add coloring; Costco’s has coloring – yuck!)
1 cup Greek kalamata olives
1 small jar of artichoke hearts (in water)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 medium leek, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, chopped fine
2-3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350° F
• Heat olive oil in large skillet that has a cover
• Add onion, bell pepper, garlic and leek; cook for 4-6 min
• Add remaining ingredients, except olives and fish; cook for 2-3 minutes
• Pour into 9×9 or 9×14 baking dish
• Add fish and olives
• Cover with foil and cook 12-18 minutes, depending on thickness of fish (because fish is being put into a sauce that’s already hot, it will cook quicker than putting it straight into the oven)

Shrimp and Fish Tacos

If you have leftovers, this seafood mix can be served over leftover brown rice or on salad with avocado for lunch – yummy!

1 lb shrimp, tails removed, diced
1 lb white fish, chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 cups fresh tomato, diced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or chile powder
1 dozen organic corn tortillas
Optional: 3/4 cup raw cheddar cheese, grated

• Begin by figuring how you’re going to warm the tortillas: Either in a toaster oven wrapped in foil for 10-15 minutes at 350°; or on a griddle or large skillet over low-medium heat – warm stack of tortillas by flipping entire stack and shuffling within the stack every 30-45 seconds
• Using a large sauce pan or skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil, coconut oil or butter
• Add garlic, diced tomatoes, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt
• Cook stirring constantly for 4-5 minutes only; the entire dinner can be paused at this point
• When the rest of the dinner is ready, add shrimp and fish and cook for 3-4 minutes only
• Using a slotted spoon, fill each warm tortilla with seafood mixture; top with raw cheddar cheese, if desired

Dr. Camilla’s Bonfire Stew

2 Lbs grass fed gr. beef or buffalo (bison) meat
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large cans (28 oz) organic stewed tomatoes
3 large carrots
2 medium zuccini or summer squash (or broccoli)
8 oz. fresh spinach
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup of red wine (optional)
turmeric (about 1/2 tsp)
curry (optional – about 1/3 tsp)
basil (about 1/2 tsp)
1-2 teaspoon sea salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)

• This recipe uses ONE PAN  - a large stock pot (at least 12 qt.)
• Mince the garlic; sauté in 3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat for 30 seconds
• Add the chopped onion and stir until the onion becomes translucent
• Add the meat and stir until browned
• Add spices,except pepper and salt
• Add the tomatoes and squash (or broccoli), stir and simmer on low for 10 min, stirring occasionally
• Add the wine (optional)
• Add sea salt and pepper to taste
• Simmer for another 5-10 min
• Using a potato peeler, julienne tool, or shredder, shred the carrots directly into the stew
• Add spinach and simmer until the spinach has wilted

Note from Dr. Camilla: The trick to a good stew is to frequently monitor the taste while cooking. Start out not using too much of the spices but figure out what is savory to your taste buds. The sea salt at the end is key to help bring out the flavor. If you want you can then add more spices until satisfied. This recipe is enough to feed a family of four and leave some leftovers which is key. Try to always cook enough for next day’s lunch – this is a vital behavior!

Fish Chowder

1 1/2 lb of sea bass or cod cut in 1/2″ squares
5 leeks chopped
2 carrots diced
1 onion, diced
1 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 – 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional)
2 cups tomatoes, diced (fresh or canned)
4 potatoes peeled and cut in 1/2 ” cubes
2 cups organic chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
sea salt to taste 

• Heat 2 tablespoon coconut oil in a large stock pot. 
• Add the onion and cook over medium heat until soft.
• Add the carrots and leeks and cook for several minutes
• Add the bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, leeks and bay leaves, cook while stirring for 3-5 minutes
• Adding the potatoes and tomatoes,  vegetable or chicken stock, and the rest of the herbs.
• Bring to a low boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are soft.  Lastly add the fish and cook for two to three minutes; turn off heat – BE CAREFUL NOTto overcook the fish.  Garnish with washed parsley and serve hot 

Crock Pot Chuck Roast

This is so easy and so delicious! MUST BE MADE EARLY IN THE DAY. Simply throw the ingredients into a Crock Pot, cover, turn it to low and you’re done (in 6-8 hours). 

1-2 lbs organic beef chuck roast
1 yellow or white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon bay leaves
1/2 cup red wine (optional)
2 cups purified water

Talk about simple:

• Place all ingredients into Crock Pot
• Cover, cook on LOW for 6-8 hours (or more – it won’t get over cooked)

Chicken Marbella

This is a delicious recipe. Although it requires OVERNIGHT marination, it DOES cook in the Crock Pot while you’re at work! Don’t leave out the prunes – they make it super yummy!

2-6 lbs of bone-in chicken thighs (or breasts)
1 head of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup dried oregano
sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
6 bay leaves
1/2 cup brown sugar (optional)
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup Italian parsley or cilantro, finely chopped (added when serving) 

• In large bowl, combine all ingredients, except parsley (or cilantro)
• Add chicken to bowl and stir/mix to cover
• Cover and refrigerate overnight
• Transfer all ingredients from large bowl to Crock Pot/slow cooker
• Set on low, cover and cook for 6-8 hours
• Using a slotted spoon, serve chicken with prunes and olives onto plates
• Sprinkle chopped fresh parsley or cilantro sprinkled over top

Paleo Lamb Stew

Don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients – this is so easy and delicious. Feel free to add or subtract vegetables depending on what’s in season or what you have on hand. Lamb stew is better with lots of vegetables to ‘soften’ its strong flavor or you can use 1/2 lamb with 1/2 beef. 

2 lbs ground lamb (or lamb shoulder meat, cut into 1/2″ pieces), OR a mixture of ground lamb and ground beef
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 large cans (28 oz) organic stewed tomatoes
4 medium to large fresh organic Roma (or other) tomatoes (can substitute a second can 28oz can diced tomatoes)
2 large carrots, shredded
2 medium zucchini or summer squash, shredded
1 medium crown broccoli, chopped
1/4 cabbage, chopped
8 oz. fresh spinach, chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup of red wine (optional)
1 teaspoon curry (optional – if used, skip rosemary)
1 tablespoon dried rosemary or 2 tablespoons fresh chopped (don’t use if curry is added)
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1-2 teaspoon sea salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste) 
purified water

• This recipe uses ONE PAN  - a large stock pot (at least 12 qt.)
• With stock pot on low-medium heat, add oil then garlic, stirring for 30 seconds
• Add the chopped onion and celery – stir until the onion becomes translucent
• Add the meat and stir until browned
• Add the tomatoes and all spices
• Add red wine (optional)
• Simmer on low for 45 minutes to 2 hours; can be turned off after 45 minutes, then reheated to finish last steps
• Add chopped and shredded vegetables, stir to mix; simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Add chopped spinach, stir to mix and serve

Marinated Grilled Chicken

1-3 chicken thighs per person, bone-in or boneless, skinless (can substitute 1 chicken breast half per person) – BUY AND COOK EXTRA FOR LUNCHES
approx.  1 cup of your favorite olive oil based salad dressing 

• In shallow dish, pour 1/2 cup dressing over chicken.  Marinate in refrigerator at least 3 hours or even better, overnight, turning occasionally. 
• Grill, bake or broil chicken until chicken is done, turning and basting with marinade
• GRILL: preheat grill to medium; cook chicken for 3-5 or 6 minutes per side – THIS WILL VARY with whether the chicken has bones or not.
• BAKE: Preheat oven to 375°; cook chicken for 20-35 minutes, again THIS WILL VARY with whether the chicken has bones or not. You can turn the meat at the half way point, but it’s not required.
• BROIL: Preheat broiler to medium; if not able to select a broiler temp, BE SURE TO LOWER RACK in oven; place chicken on cookie sheet 4″-5″ from broiler elements; turn after 3-5 minutes – WATCH CHICKEN TO AVOID BURNING IT.

Pesce Putanesca  (“White Fish in Harlot’s sauce”)

This is an incredibly delicious fish dish. It’s said to be named after the ‘ladies of the night’ (“putanesca”) in Italy.

6 oz. white fish filet per person (tilapia, haddock, red snapper, sole)
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 red onion, cut into wedges
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic
3 medium tomatoes, diced; or 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives
1 tablespoon capers, drained
2 tablespoons fresh Italian flat parsley, coarsely chopped

• Sprinkle sea salt lightly on fish, set aside
• In large skillet cook onion in olive over medium heat for 7-8 minutes
• Add garlic, undrained tomatoes, oregano, red pepper – bring to boil, reduce and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes
• Add olives and capers, top with fish filets and bring to boil; reduce heat and cook covered for 6-10 minutes depending on the thickness of filets, until fish ‘flakes’ with fork
• Remove fish; allow sauce to simmer 1-2 minutes more to thicken
• Spoon sauce over fish to serve; sprinkle with chopped parsley
• Optional: serve over cooked brown rice [2 cups water, 1 cup brown rice, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt; bring to boil in medium to large sauce pan, reduce to very low, cook covered for 55 minutes - makes 3 cups; double the recipe if you're going to make the brown rice breakfast dish, which is really yummy and nutritious]

Healthy Chicken Nuggets

This recipe originally called for rolling the chicken in seasoned bread crumbs (which we make for the kids – we’re trying to kill them off), but in an effort to avoid grains in general and gluten in particular, one night my wife Chanya made it for me without the bread crumbs and it was AWESOME!   - Dr. Paul

boneless, skinless chicken thighs – 2-3 thighs per person (buy extra – you’ll definitely want leftovers of this for lunch)
2 cups goat milk yogurt ( Trader Joe’s and whole food stores carry it as well)
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
3 cloves garlic
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

• Preheat oven to 350° F
• Cut chicken thighs into small pieces, set aside
• Mix yogurt, Dijon mustard, minced garlic and spices in a large mixing bowl
• Dredge chicken pieces through mix to coat
• Place chicken pieces on cookie/baking sheets
• Sprinkle Parmesan cheese lightly over chicken
• Bake for 20 minutes

Basil Fish

1 – 6oz. white fish filet, per person
4-5 tablespoon coconut, olive, sunflower or sesame oil; or organic butter
1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 pinch of pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil, sliced into strips 

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• In a large skillet over medium heat, add 2 tablespoon oil and cook the sunflower seeds until you smell the nutty flavor come out. 
• In the same pan add another tablespoon oil and cook the onions and garlic for only one minute while stirring add salt and pepper. 
• Lastly, add the basil and cook for less than 1 minute; remove pan from heat
• In a glass baking dish use a paper towel to spread coconut oil around the dish, arrange the fish fillets and sprinkle lightly with salt. 
• Top with the basil sauce. 
• Cover dish and bake for approximately 25 minutes until the fish is done but not dry.

Scallops Provencal

There are two options for cooking the scallops themselves: put them in the sauce at the end to cook; or grilling them and serving with the sauce. Either way, be careful not to overcook the scallops – they only take a couple of minutes to cook.

3-5 large sea scallops per person, fresh or thawed
3 cloves garlic per person, chopped
2 Roma tomatoes per person, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, per person
1/2 tablespoon organic butter, per person (optional)
sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Italian seasoning
white wine (optional)
Optional:
  crushed red pepper
  fresh basil, chopped

• In a large skillet, heat olive oil over low-medium heat; add garlic and cook for 45 seconds
• Add chopped tomatoes and white wine; simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Season to taste with Italian seasoning, sea salt and fresh ground pepper and optional red pepper
• When tomatoes have begun to break down somewhat, add butter, then scallops (if cooking them in the sauce); cook for approximately 2-3 minutes
• The scallops can be grilled and then served with sauce under them;
• To Grill Scallops: Warm grill up on medium; in a mixing bowl, coat scallops with olive oil; season with chopped garlic, crushed red pepper, sea salt, ?? – you decide

Quick Chicken Posole

1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
6 cloves garlic minced
1 onion chopped
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4-6 cups chicken broth
1  - 14 oz can tomato sauce
1-  28 oz can hominy
1 – 14 oz can baby corn
2 teaspoon ground red New Mexico Chiles
½ bunch cilantro, left whole with stems removed
avocado
lime wedges
sea salt and pepper 

• Heat oil in large pan
• Cut chicken in bite size chunks season with 1 teaspoon oregano and sea salt and pepper to taste
• Brown chicken in pan set aside on plate
• Sauté onion and garlic about 3 min
• Add remaining oregano
• Add cilantro, chicken broth, tomato sauce, hominy and baby corn and new mexico chile and bring to boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour

Serve with lime wedges and avocado

Dr. K’s Meatloaf

A great source of flavorful protein and one that nearly always has leftovers. One of the keys to any recipe that uses ground beef is to use quality organic ground beef with about 15% fat; using ground sirloin that has 10% fat can lead to a ‘dry’ meatloaf. We like fat, just not too much animal fat too often!

2 lbs organic grass fed ground beef (or bison, or ground turkey)
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons organic butter
2 organic eggs
2 stalks celery finely chopped
1 organic carrot, shredded
1 organic zucchini, shredded
1/2 cup organic oats (quick or rolled)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon cooking sherry (optional)
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon black pepper (preferably fresh cracked)
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon marjoram
1/4 cup organic ketchup
yams (can substitute red, white or yukon gold potatoes)
Optional: rosemary (fresh or dried)

• Note from Dr. K: I put this entire recipe together in the time it took my oven to heat to 375º – it’s that easy!
• Preheat oven to 375º
• In medium size sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter and cook onion and celery until soft
• In large glass measuring cup or small bowl, mix eggs, Dijon mustard and sherry
• Add ground beef, onions, egg mixture, shredded vegetables and seasonings into large mixing bowl; use your hands to mix well
• Put meat mixture into a large square or rectangular baking dish and shape into a rectangular loaf, leaving 1″ tor 2” room on either side of loaf
• Place quartered yams or potatoes on either side of loaf, season with sea salt, cracked pepper (and rosemary – optional)
• Bake for 50-55 minutes

Dr. Bruce’s Teriyaki Fish

1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup raw honey
1/2 cup tamari (gluten-free ‘soy’ sauce) sauce
1/8 cup purified water
2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
1-2 clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp salt
2 lbs of white fish fillets (orange roughy, tillapia, haddock, cod, sole, etc.)

• Mix all ingredients except coconut oil together and marinate the fish fillets for 30 minutes to an hour in the refrigerator
• Place 1/4 cup of coconut oil in a large pan over medium heat and cook fish for 3-5 minutes on each side, depending on how thick the fish filets are
• Be careful not to overcook the fish, or burn the teriyaki sauce

Ground Turkey Vegetable Soup

2 lbs ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, diced
1/8 cup olive oil
1 28oz. can chopped tomatoes
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 medium zucchini , chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 head broccoli including stem, chopped
8 oz. spinach
4 qts organic chicken broth (Costco)
sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (optional) 

• Use a large stock pot (at least 12 qt.)
• Sauté onion and garlic together in the olive oil over medium heat for 3-4 minutes
• Add chopped vegetables, except spinach and cook for 6 minutes
• Add turkey meat and cook for 6 minutes
• Add chicken broth, bring to gentle simmer
• Add seasonings and cook for 15-20 mnutes on low
• Add spinach and cook for 2 minutes
• Serve as is or over brown rice

Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

4 lbs organic boneless and skinless chicken legs and thighs

4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium white onions thinly sliced

2 large red bell peppers sliced

3 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 can tomato paste (6 oz.)

1 16 oz. can stewed tomatoes
3 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon sea salt
1/4 cup liquid aminos or tamari (gluten free) sauce
Black pepper to taste
Serve with Cashew Crumble ‘Parmesan’ Cheese for sprinkling before serving (see recipe below)

• Place the sliced onions on bottom of crock pot
• Add the chicken over the onions
• Mix all other ingredients and pour over the chicken
• Cook on low 6-8 hours (or longer – that’s the beauty of crock pots – it’s nearly impossible to overcook something). Make this before leaving for work and when you get home all you’ll need to make is a salad and a vegetable.

PS. Send me your favorite recipes and I’ll add them to our collection. contact@drkratka.com

TOP 10 ‘NEVER EAT’ FOODS

DON’T EAT  THESE DISEASE-PRODUCING FOODS

When attempting to make change, the rule is to add positive first – meaning, start adding good habits first, then later work on getting rid of destructive habits. That being said, the sooner you get bad habits out of your lifestyle choices, the sooner you’ll get back to being healthy. So, if you’re committed to getting healthy as quick as possible, I encourage you to jump in and do this RIGHT NOW!

Out of Sight, Out of Mind
The first rule: Out of sight, out of mind. One of our first concepts is “out of sight, out of mind”. If you’re like me, if it’s in the the house or on your plate, you’ll eat it, right? Then remove it from your world; get it off your plate, get it out of your house NOW! This means the potato chips, soda pop, candy, bread, ice cream, … whatever you’ll eat if it’s in the house – get rid of it, NOW!

JUMP START YOUR HEALTH TODAY
Start eliminating the bad stuff from your life, from your cupboards, from the choices you’re making each and every day at each and every meal. Just go through your cupboards and refrigerator(s) with a trash can or trash bag at hand, and toss out all the following disease foods. These are also foods that may contain one of the following as an ingredient:

MICROWAVE OVENS – FOR WARMING PLATES ONLY: One last note: Stop microwaving your food, any food. A great illustration of the nutrient-depleting effect that microwaving has on food (as well as the differences in water) is to take three identical small potted plants and feed one purified water, the second tap water and the third plant, water that has been microwaved (and cooled).

Money and Science Can’t Buy Wellness – It Must Be Lived

Freeway Billboard at the Epicenter of San Dieog's Biotech Industry (I risked my life to get this photo)

On Sunday, my wife Chanya and I drove up the coast from San Diego to where we live in Carlsbad. As we drove we passed the University California at San Diego into the neighboring biotech-concentrated area known as Torrey Pines Science Park, which is ground zero for San Diego’s biotech industry. As we passed hospitals and dozens of biotech firms, I couldn’t help but think about how billions of dollars were spent every year in the very buildings and facilities we were driving by; that inside each of these multi-million dollar edifices to modern medical technology were thousands of brilliant, highly educated people devoted to researching how to chemically and/or genetically change human physiology to bring it to what they have defined as health.

Running through my mind at the same time was an inspiring and insightful article I’d just read in the Sept/Oct issue of AARP’s Magazine. In the article titled ‘More Good Years’, author Dan Buettner (The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest), summarized a scientific expedition he’d lead to Ikaria, a small island in Greece, “… where an extraordinarily high proportion of natives live past age 90.” The Greek islanders have dramatically reduced rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes compared to aged Americans, including “the astonishing fact, that although one-third of Ikaria’s population are 90 or older, there was virtually no Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. In the United States more than 40 percent of people over 90 suffer some form of this devastating ailment.”

What did this scientific expedition reveal? Did the study reveal that over the past twenty-five years, the Ikarian residents had access to, or that they had in any way benefited from Europe or the world’s array of medical and scientific diagnostic and treatment methods? No, of course not.

As modern man brings to bear modern scientific technology and research on human physiology, it consistently misses ‘the forest for the trees’. Yes, it’s been proven we can use chemicals (drugs) to ‘force’ human physiology into a desired numerical value; but science has repeatedly and irrefutably shown that that doesn’t produce health – optimal physiological function (which produces greater vitality, virility, longevity, positive outlook on life, stress reduction, etc.) – that comes from lifestyle behaviors, not manipulated physiological function (or as medical doctors like to half-jokingly refer to, ‘better living through better chemistry’). For example, if a person takes a drug to lower their cholesterol or blood pressure, it doesn’t in any way make them healthier – it simply lowers the measurement of their cholesterol or blood pressure; and those ‘improved diagnostic test results’ come at a cost – the drug’s side effects and the patient’s false sense of security thinking that they are now closer to being healthy, which diverts them from the core causal issue of their poor lifestyle habits. Science has shown those people still die at the same age, with the same lack of energy, decreased bodily functions, and lower quality of life as those who don’t take medications, perhaps even worse due to the side effects.

What the team of demographic and medical researchers discovered in their study was that the native Ikarians engaged in lifestyle behaviors within the domains of eating, moving and thinking (i.e. life enjoyment, optimism, and stress management/avoidance) that were consistent with creating optimal physiological function, which by the way, is the definition of health.

Typical of a medical ‘reductionist’ analysis, the article distilled out thirteen lifestyle behaviors that have theoretically created the Ikarian residents’ ‘fountain of youth’. We must be so careful to not attempt to cull out specific isolated elements. Analogous to calling ascorbic acid vitamin C, when actually it’s the whole orange containing citrus bioflavonoids combined with other phytonutrients, co-enzymes and co-factors that provide the essential nutrients to build health, it is important to remember it’s the “whole-ism” of the Ikarians’ lifestyle that has created their unique levels of health, not a select group of isolated elements. As part of that whole-ism of the Greek islanders’ positive health habits that was unfortunately overlooked in the article was  that the native Ikarian’s also avoid the overwhelming onslaught of toxicity and deficiency found in the typical American environment and diet.

Wellness comes from a lifestyle that provides sufficiency and purity – those are deep and complex categories when applied to our lifestyle behavior choices. The opposite of that, deficiency and toxicity, is what all disease stems from. It’s imperative to incorporate BOTH strategies- seeking sufficiency and purity combined with the avoidance/elimination of deficiency and toxicity – that’s where wellness is found, in the living. The Ikarian residents, without consciously seeking to do so, not only engage in regular physical activity, eat a wholesome diet of natural locally produced foods, and live an essentially stress free and joyful life, they also live and eat within an environment that is virtually free from processed foods, artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, etc., and industrial chemicals that have insidiously worked their way into American bodies through the water, air and food we consume.

The lesson here is to live naturally – check out THE 10 ‘NEVER EAT’ FOODS and THE BIG LIE - and remember, it’s about progression, not perfection. Get better in your lifestyle behaviors within eating, moving and thinking each week and each month. The goal is to look back in three, six or twelve months and be able to see how you’ve gained more purity and sufficiency and reduced the toxicity and deficiency in your lifestyle choices.

You can do it!

Yours in health, Dr. Paul

SUGAR – THE ENEMY AMONGST US

It Tastes Sweet, But It Will Kill You: Sugar – The Ultimate Disease Food

It’s contained in many, many foods; it wreaks havoc with many of the body’s physiologic systems and plays a central role in the current heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity epidemics. The culprit:  plain old sugar and it’s thinly disguised evil cousin, high fructose corn syrup – yes, they will kill you. Maybe not overnight, but over time sugar and corn syrup-derived sweeteners will erode your health leading to many fatal diseases.

Sugar is a super-concentrated unnatural food – the fact that it comes from something natural doesn’t make it natural to the body. [Gasoline comes from something very natural, oil, and is therefore essentially a natural product, but you wouldn't want to eat it.]

In the past 75 years our modern industrial culture has seen a unique convergence of many negative lifestyle factors that have lead to a dramatic increase in ‘lifestyle behavior diseases’ which include heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, senile dementia, and cancer (yes, cancer is a lifestyle disease, not a genetic one as is commonly believed). This “Perfect Storm” of disease-producing lifestyle behavior choices includes the following:

• A decrease in the intake of micro-nutrients and trace elements within our food supply due to commercial farming practices utilizing year round growth cycles and nitrogen-based petrochemical fertilizers, creating epidemic nutritional deficiencies or malnutrition within modern industrial nations as well as food processing methods that strip nearly all nutrients from our food.
• An increase in toxicity of our food supply due to the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides in combination with modern food processing techniques utilizing chemical additives, and preservatives.
• An increase in consumption of food that has been processed to the point where there is little to no nutritive value.
• A pronounced decrease in physical activity levels unprecedented in the history of mankind.

Added to this … after the Jesuits’ introduction of sugar in 1751, sugar became less expensive to produce (thanks in large part to slavery), sugar/sweetener consumption has risen steadily (per person/per year):

• 1821:     10lbs
• 1880:     38lbs
• 1970:  119lbs
• 1990:  132lbs
• 2007:  158lbs

When found in nature as fruit (think strawberries, bananas, etc.), sugar is in the form of a complex carbohydrate bound to fiber which functions to slow down or inhibit the breakdown and absorption of the sugars into the blood stream, creating a gradual flow of sugar (glucose) into the blood stream. Refined sugars (simple carbohydrates) such as sugar (versus sugar cane) or apple juice (versus an apple), have been stripped of their natural fibers allowing for rapid digestion into the blood stream, which causes blood glucose levels to spike. This results in over-secretion of insulin, the carrier hormone that transports glucose from the blood to the cells and tissues. Normally, insulin secretion is gradual, corresponding to the gradual absorption of sugars found in complex carbohydrates. When eating refined sugar or corn syrup, the sudden demand for insulin becomes acute and insulin is ‘dumped’ into the bloodstream. This acute demand for insulin production and secretion overwhelms the pancreas, the organ that produces and secretes insulin. It gets worse: over time, sustained levels of insulin (from continuing to eat refined carbohydrates such as sugar, corn syrup and white flour – the diet of Americans) results in insulin resistance, a chronic but deadly condition where the body’s cells don’t respond to insulin in a normal or healthy manner, causing even more insulin to be secreted (think of the pancreas as ‘shouting’), thus aggravating insulin resistance syndrome even further, creating a self-perpetuating cycle which ultimately leads to many disease processes including atherosclerosis (clogging of the arteries), cancer, diabetes, weight gain/obesity, high blood lipids (abnormal LDL:HDL cholesterol levels), and mineral depletion.

Now with an unlimited supply and unlimited access to foods containing sugar or corn syrup, as a society, we’re totally hooked – sugar is without a doubt, addictive. To verify this for yourself, try going 2, 3, or 7 days without any refined sugar; one, it’s hard to even find foods that have none; two, if you’re like most people, your body is habituated/addicted to the sweet poison.

Sugar Destroys You Health

• Causes Obesity and Diabetes
• Causes Mineral Loss
• Disrupts Hormone Function
• Depresses the Immune system
• Causes Chronic Disease
• Increases Cancer Risk

Sugar Decreases Immune Function
It’s long been known that sugar intake causes decreased immune system function. Studies have shown that the immune system is weakened substantially within minutes of eating refined sugar; the more you eat, the more your body’s insulin response system is compromised. The body’s cell-mediated immunity, uses specialized white blood cells called neutrophils to attack tumors, viruses and bacteria, is decreased when there is elevated blood glucose, which is caused by eating refined carbohydrate foods such as sugar and white flour. [Sanchez A, et al. Roles of sugars in human neutrophilic phagocytosis. Amer J Clin Nutr 1973; 26:1180-1184. (view article)]

What’s more, not only are we more susceptible to getting colds and flu, even our body’s ability to fight cancer is compromised when we eat sugar. [Ely JTA, Krone CA Glucose and cancer. J New Zealand Medical Assoc. 2002; 115(1159). (view article)]

As an illustration, let’s look at one of the worst sugar foods there is – soda pop.

SODA POP – THE ULTIMATE SUGAR DELIVERY SYSTEM
As has been mentioned, there are many huge problems affecting our health today:

• We no longer eat fresh, natural whole organic nutrient-dense foods; instead our diets are now dominated by processed foods devoid of nutrients and filled with toxic chemicals, synthetic fats and artificial sweeteners.
• Neglecting the critical nutrient of movement or exercise in our lives, which like fresh foods, is genetically essential for health, the vast majority of people now live sedentary lives which further hastens the onset of virtually all diseases.

As a result, the current statistics are staggering: 1 out of every 2 people will die of heart disease; 1 out of every 3 people will die from cancer; 1 out of every 4 people will develop diabetes; 60% of adults and 35% of children are obese (by the way, obesity is the defining risk factor for heart disease, cancer and diabetes).

The most startling aspect of those statistics is that all of those diseases were nonexistent or very rare occurrences in earlier times amongst the hunter-gatherer cultures that determined the genetic code that our bodies live by today. In other words, the diseases so common today are best described as lifestyle diseases or behavior diseases.

One of the central players in this cultural health maelstrom (def: a situation marked by confusion, turbulence, strong feelings, violence or destruction) is our nation’s habit of consuming sweetened beverages that destroy our health – in particular, Americans love soda pop. Soft drink manufacturers make enough soda pop for every person to drink 54 gallons per year. That works out to be 576 12oz. cans per year or 1.6 cans per day. It also works out to be over 15 teaspoons of sugar (150 calories) per day. Making matters worse is that soda pop is most often sweetened using high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners, both of which have even greater health risks than sucrose (table sugar). By the way, eating 50 extra calories per day for five years will cause you to gain 50 pounds. Hopefully you are starting to understand the connection between the consequences of our lifestyle choices and their effect on our health (i.e. the ever-increasing diabetes and obesity epidemics).

SODA POP DESTROYS YOUR HEALTH IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

Soda pop causes calcium and bone loss:

• When carbonated liquids go into the stomach (stomach cells are not genetically equipped to handle carbonation) the stomach responds by ‘pulling’ calcium from the blood creating an antacid to neutralize the carbonic acid; the body, with its incredible innate intelligence, knows that maintaining calcium levels in the blood is critical to many things including brain and muscle function, replenishes blood calcium levels by drawing calcium from bones.
• The phosphoric acid in the soda pop also causes an imbalance in the delicate ratio of calcium-magnesium-phosphorus, causing the body again to draw calcium from the blood and bones to maintain this critical mineral balance.

Soda pop causes diabetes and insulin resistance:

• Twelve ounces of soda pop contains almost ten teaspoons of sugar; now we have super-sized servings in thirty two or even sixty-four ounce Big Gulps® which contain twenty-nine and fifty-three teaspoons of sugar respectively. This incredible dose of refined sugar is immediately absorbed into the bloodstream wreaking havoc with the body’s ability to manage insulin production and blood glucose levels leading to diabetes, insulin resistance, heart disease, obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Soda pop causes cancer:

• Refined sugar intake is associated with increased cancer risk.
• Because carbonated beverages contribute to acid reflux, drinking soda pop is associated with increased risk of esophageal cancer.

Soda pop disrupts the critical pH of the body:

• Soda is 100,000 times more acidic than water. The body’s pH (the balance between alkalinity and acidity) must stay within a very narrow range; when the pH shifts the body will do virtually anything to correct it to avoid catastrophic breakdown in physiological function. The body neutralizes acidity by pulling minerals such as calcium out of the blood or wherever possible, including bone. This is yet another contributing cause of osteoporosis (another cause of osteoporosis is milk consumption – yikes, more on that later).

Soda pop causes weight gain, contributing to the obesity epidemic, in three ways:

• #1: Extra calories always cause weight gain, no matter how you look at it. The body stores excess carbohydrates as fat. As mentioned above, as little as 50 extra calories per day over a five year period will result in a fifty pound weight gain.
• #2: When processed by the liver, fructose is preferentially converted to fat.
• #3: Fructose doesn’t cause the body’s satiety mechanism (feeling satisfied) to be activated, as does glucose, so you will keep eating.

Soda pop causes atherosclerosis (clogging/hardening of the arteries), high blood pressure, and heart disease:

• Because of how fructose is converted into fat by the liver, soda pop consumption increases LDL lipids (“bad cholesterol”) and decreases HDL (“good cholesterol”), leading to a build-up of plaque within arteries which narrow the blood vessels which leads directly to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.

Some people reading this will be thinking ‘Isn’t that a bit extreme; after all, what’s more American than having a soft drink at a picnic or my son’s baseball game?’ (not to mention that soda is usually served with a hot dog or chips that have been deep fried, and a sandwich made with processed flour and cured meats – boy, we’ve got this disease-food thing down to a science don’t we; unfortunately, an evil science). Or my favorite, ‘I just have one once in a while – if it’s in moderation it can’t be that bad, can it?’. There are two types of toxicity or poisoning: 1) Acute: resulting in vomiting, fainting, convulsions, death, etc.; 2) Slow or chronic accumulation of toxins which ultimately break down the body’s physiological function. Soda pop falls into the second category (diet soda is even more toxic than the regular sugar-poison variety). (My cynical response to the “everything in moderation” paradigm is to ask ‘Is it okay to do crystal meth or cheat on your spouse, in moderation?’)

Should you have any further doubts about the dangers of soda pop, high fructose corn syrup and their direct correlation to the obesity and diabetes epidemics that are CRUSHING Americans of all ages, I encourage you to watch this video:

IMPORTANT: Don’t make the mistake thinking that diet sodas containing artificial sweeteners like sucralose (Splenda®) or aspartame (Nutrasweet®, Equal®) are safe – they are far from it; and they cause weight gain (if you think about it, who’s always drinking diet soda? Yep, overweight people). Furthermore, scientific research links artificial sweeteners with leukemia, brain cancer, migraines, depression, and blindness – more on that topic here. 

Below is the trailer for the award-winning documentary Sweet Misery:

To watch the fantastic full length documentary film Sweet Misery about the TERRIBLE DANGERS of eating or drinking any food containing aspartame click here. 

The take away:  Make water your predominant beverage – it’s what you are genetically designed to drink.  You can do it!

Vegetarianism

We currently live in a world that has become more ‘interconnected’ than ever before in the history of man. This globalization includes economic, environmental, cultural and political dynamics and concerns that are complex and far-reaching, to say the least.

I recognize the legitimacy of these realities and how they relate to the production of animal protein sources. The industrial meat production industry is fraught with a wide range of ‘collateral damage’ issues surrounding the methods used in the mass husbandry and slaughter of animals and those that affect the quality of commonly consumed animal proteins, as well as significant associated environmental problems. There is also the purely humanitarian perspective of killing and eating animals that many people are sincerely and legitimately opposed.

I’ve attempted to be a vegetarian twice in my life – once when I was 20 years old and knew a little, and again when I was 40 when I thought I knew a lot. Both times I was choosing to pursue vegetarianism for what I mistakenly believed would be health benefits and to attempt to remove myself from the environmental and moral issues connected with eating meat.  The short version of my experience: I didn’t do well due to what I’ve now come to understand as insulin sensitivity issues due to eating grains combined with protein and fat deficiencies; I came to the realization that I was forcing a philosophical lifestyle choice upon a biological system that wasn’t designed for it.

What I’ve come to realize is that I cannot impose a philosophical belief system on a biological system that isn’t programmed for that belief system. After twenty five years of professional study, clinical observation and personal experience, I have now adopted a purely evidence-based perspective (and lifestyle behaviors in my own life) which utilizes the optimal physiological or biological function as the navigational compass for my own personal health choices as well as the strategic health recommendations to others.

Historically man has always and is genetically programmed to ingest, digest, metabolize and thrive on pure-sourced animal protein. Science has determined the historical and physiologic need for animal protein intake for optimal health.

The goal is proper nutrient intake, which science has now shown to be a plant-driven nutritional diet style that can best be describe as a Paleolithic diet style, meaning a diet style consistent with our genetic ancestry which has remained unchanged since the late Paleolithic era approximately 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. This is a diet style that emphasizes high percentage of plant food consumption (vegetables, nuts, seeds, some fruit, a little starch and no sugar, grains, or dairy) in conjunction with optimal intake of fish and free-range (grass fed, pasture fed), grain-free, antibiotic-free, hormone-free, uncured meats. Notice that this diet style does not include grains or dairy foods, due to those foods being genetically or physiologically incompatible with our biologic and genetic requirements for optimal health.

I realize this is in direct contrast with a vegetarian philosophy and lifestyle belief system and by no means do I wish to be critical or condescending of that lifestyle choice – I respect the noble intentions; however, in my professional opinion, it’s not health promoting.

Health Concerns for Vegetarians
I have seen that like many people in our culture today, vegetarians have a misperception surrounding fat. Fat is one of three macro nutrients that should be on every plate at every meal, the other two being protein and plant foods. This unfortunate and tragic misperception surrounding fat in general and animal (saturated) fat in particular was started in the 1990’s when our culture was incorrectly taught that eating fat makes us fat and causes cardiovascular disease. This started the entire low fat, non-fat, no fat trend that persists today, albeit it’s now finally starting to breakdown under the realization of how dangerous a low fat dietary lifestyle has proven to be. Not coincidentally, obesity has skyrocketed 61% since 1991 when people shifted to getting their calories from low-fat foods such as pasta, cereals, and other grains (which also happen to be nutrient poor).

This is that the low-fat, non-fat trend is often exacerbated or amplified within a vegetarian lifestyle due to the lack of animal protein (see Fat is Good page). As is outlined in The Truth About Saturated Fats article paper, fat is part of every cell membrane in the body; fat is the foundational building block of all hormones in the body; the brain is 60% fat, the synapses within the brain are 80% fat, etc.

It is generally accepted by anthropologists, physiologists, paleontologists, etc. that the current human genome was established approximately 40,000 years ago. This period is referred to as the Paleolithic era when humans were ‘hunter-gatherers’ (think Stone Age). The reason this is important is that because our genome hasn’t changed since then and it was during this period when our genetic requirements for health within the domains of eating, moving and thinking were determined.

For example, as most of us have personally discovered and what science has confirmed, we are meant to move regularly throughout our day. Because we are a ‘sitting’ culture, we are sedentary for much of our day; as a result, we’ve had to develop efficient strategies to meet our genetic requirements for movement. Hence, we do yoga, ride mountain bikes, run, hike, swim, go to spin classes, etc.  The concept of movement as a ‘nutrient’, actually an essential nutrient, has now emerged within the health and scientific community with great clarity. To illustrate, not only is exercise critical for brain development (a great book on this topic is Spark), it’s now known that all types of heart disease and cancer risk and survival rates are positively impacted by regular exercise; this includes skin cancer, which on the surface (no pun intended) wouldn’t make sense. However, when we look at cancer as an immune dysfunction syndrome (as well as a dietary toxicity/deficiency syndrome) and see how exercise enhances global physiology including immune function, it makes perfect sense.

With regards to our diet or nutritional habits, again we can look to our genetic hunter-gatherer ancestors to learn what the requirements are for us to be optimally healthy. We know our Paleolithic genetic ancestors ate a plant-driven diet combined with lean, grass-fed/pasture fed animal proteins. Perhaps the most profound or significant information to glean from this analysis is that the two main food groups that modern culture eats from and gets much of their caloric intake from today didn’t exist when our current genome was being formed. Those two food groups were grains and dairy; both being developed approximately 10,000 years ago when agriculture and animal husbandry came on the scene. This is HUGE. There are many respected doctors and scientists who advocate a grain-free diet. I personally and professionally know of many people who have taken this path, including how they raise/feed their children within a grain-free diet style, with amazing success. Milk of course, is a ‘hormone delivery system’ for baby cows and when pasteurized and homogenized, is a terrible food for the human body (baby cows will die before reaching maturity if fed their own mother’s breast milk that has been pasteurized and homogenized). Nearly all countries where dairy consumption is high so are all chronic disease rates, especially osteoporosis (the book The China Study  covers this very well). A great resource on the deleterious effects of milk: www.notmilk.com.

Now when you factor in someone who chooses to live a vegetarian diet style, it’s gets quite complicated. As mentioned above, I totally understand, support and respect the humanitarian, social and environmental precepts behind the personal choice to avoid animal foods.

Significant Challenges for Vegetarians
There are some significant challenges when choosing to be a vegetarian. The first, is getting adequate protein. Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s book The China Study, through the use of epidemiological studies, states the case for our cultures’ over consumption of animal protein. He presents a compelling position to minimizing or eliminating meat consumption altogether. Opposing this view and with equal credibility and certainty is Dr. Loren Cordain’s compelling book The Paleo Diet (and his resource-rich website), and the constructs for our genetic requirements for protein, particularly of animal origin; he qualifies this with the mandate for eating large amounts of vegetables and the avoidance of grains.

I have done quite a bit of research on this controversial topic in addtion to evaluating my personal and family’s lifestyle behavior choices and have come to the confident conclusion that the “pre-agricultural” diet style that Dr. Cordain’s research and recommendations incorporate produce the outcomes that define or determine health – decreased disease rates/overall health, energy and vitality, weight management/loss, skin health, the elimination of blood sugar/insulin spikes and crashes, and finally, improved biomarkers (serum lipids, homocysteine, blood glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, and important inflammatory immune markers such as C-reactive protein, etc.).

Sadly, many vegetarians, in a effort to get caloric sustenance, end up displacing their body’s need to for nutrient-dense foods – such organic vegetables, nuts, seeds and quality protein sources – by eating non-nutrient-dense grains and cereal foods. This sets up a deadly metabolic situation in the body in the form of insulin dysregulation and the cascade of physiological consequences associated with that hormone derangement (i.e. weight gain/obesity, diabetes, chronic inflammation, elevated cholesterol, triglycerides, blood lipids, hypertension, etc.).

At the nexus of this discussion is the across-the-board agreement by all doctors, researchers, authors and the like for the body’s need for a high consumption of nutrient-dense organic vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. If grains are consumed, they must be whole grains, and preferably not wheat (because of the double edged sword of the high insulin producing and pro-inflammatory nature of gluten and its core component, gliadin). Furthermore, the preponderance of refined grain food products and its over consumption in our culture in general and often by vegetarians in particular seeking calories through pasta, breads, baked goods and the like, creates a dangerous digestive metabolic end-result called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is being shown to be one of the root causes of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity (along with of course the deficiency of antioxidant-rich organic vegetables and exercise as the two other legs of that disease triad stool). Insulin sensitivity is further exacerbated by the additional over consumption of  high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners in many, many food products such as soda pop common to our culture (soda pop, believe it or not, makes up nearly 25% of caloric intake for many Americans, especially teens on their path to diabetes in their 20′s; diet sodas are worse in that artificial sweeteners are neurotoxins and they cause a disconnect within the blood glucose – insulin feedback loop within the body; that’s why you see so many obese people drinking diet sodas and getting more overweight).

Please understand that I’m not judging or recommending anybody not be a vegetarian. What I am suggesting is that any person choosing a vegetarian lifestyle needs to be very vigilant and diligent in navigating their way through the nutritional minefield that vegetarianism presents. There are some definite ‘laws’ if you will, to follow so that your body doesn’t experience insulin resistance issues and the deadly consequences concomitant to that.

The second challenge for a vegetarian is getting sufficient fats into their diet, particularly the omega-3 essential fats. Raw nuts, seeds, avocados, healthy oils (extra virgin olive and coconut oil in particular) provide valuable fats which are integral to many metabolic pathways in the body. Again, in our misinformed culture we eat so many snack foods such as chips and crackers made with poor quality oils. This grain consumption combined with vegetable oil consumption has upset the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA). Research shows that we should eat a diet which has a ratio of 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3; current estimates are that our society eats at ratio of 20:1 to 50:1 omega-6 to omega-3. Most people have by now heard of ‘fish oil’ and omega-3 EFA and its health benefits. The deficiency within our culture as well as the benefits of omega-3 cannot be overstated. [Another great book is The Omega-3 Connection by Andrew Stoll, MD, director of Psychopharmacology Research at McLean Hospital (Boston) and a professor of Psychiatry at Harvard. This book outlines how psychotic, depressed, bipolar, schizophrenic, and psychopathic patients were given high doses of fish oil which resulted in the patients discontinuing all of their medications.]

Because our modern diet is grossly deficient in omega-3, we need to seek it out in the foods we eat (fish and pasture fed/grass fed animal meats like our Paleo ancestors - not grain fed meats which contain omega-6 fats) and through supplementation. For vegetarians who would be adverse to eating fish or taking fish oil, this would mean high consumption of flax seeds and flax oil, raw walnuts, and borage oil.

So what’s the take away in all this? My concern for all vegetarians is that they may be falling victim to ‘high calorie malnutrition’ and are at risk for insulin sensitivity combined with a protein and fat deficiency.

Recommendations for all vegetarians:

1)  Drastically reduce or eliminate altogether your consumption of refined grain products. This would include bread, pasta, muffins, cereals, crackers, cookies, chips and the like. In the process you will also be avoiding displacing high nutrient calories and avoiding the bad oils present in so many of these types of processed foods.

2)  Eliminate all high fructose corn syrup consumption from soda pop, prepared foods, processed foods, etc. (HFCS is in many, many foods). Stay away from diet sodas and artificial sweeteners at all costs. Water should be our predominant beverage – always.

3)  Eat large vegetable salads with your lunch and dinner; along with lots of vegetable side dishes. Avoid starches such as potatoes, rice (some brown rice is not harmful), etc.

4)  If you choose to eat eggs – they are an excellent source of many nutrients. Best is to poach them.  I also put hardboiled eggs into my smoothies (made with goat milk yogurt, lemon-flavored fish oil, almond milk, Dr. K’s Perfect Greens, frozen berries, and banana – go to Smoothie Recipes)

5)  At each meal, you should be able to look at your plate and easily identify plant, fat and protein. Eating a healthy breakfast every day is critical – smoothies are very strategic here in that they are quick, can be taken on the road, and can be made to be highly nutrient-dense with greens, frozen berries, coconut oil (and excellent plant source of saturated fat).

In my professional opinion, the most successful vegetarians are ‘raw foodists’. By restricting their dietary intake to raw foods, they number one, do not eat grains unless sprouted which is light years away nutritionally from whole or processed grains. Also, they eat lots of raw nuts and seeds which provide both protein and fat, both critical nutrients for satiety and sustained energy. And lastly, they consume the very important antioxidant-rich and nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits in large enough quantities to augment their protein needs (surprising to many people is how much protein there is in vegetables such as broccoli). There are a number of great raw food “cookbooks” presently on the market which are a perfect way to expand your food selections (see Carol Alt’s ”Raw 50″). Studies now show that organic vegetables have considerably higher amounts of immune enhancing/cancer fighting minerals, trace elements, phytonutrients and antioxidants as well as the lack of toxic pesticides and fertilizers.

Clearly, this is a complex subject that has significant health consequences if not handled properly. I sincerely want the best for every person, including those who choose a lifestyle that differs from what I personally pursue and professionally advocate.

Yours in health, Dr. Paul

The Big Lie – “Everything In Moderation”

Living Out Of Balance – The Key To Health

Where did ‘Everything in moderation’ come from? Is it some remnant of earlier puritanical times to prevent people from engaging in overt excessiveness?  Does it come from some fear of denying ourselves the things we think are pleasurable?  Or is it just simply the ultimate rationalization of our denial that we as a society engage in disease-producing lifestyle behaviors?

If science has shown that what the optimal levels of exercise and sleep that are needed for optimal health; and if science has shown what foods bring us not only toward health but away from disease, does it make any sense to ‘moderate’ them and ‘balance’ them out with seemingly pleasurable but negatively impactful lifestyle choices such as eating nutrient poor, health-robbing processed foods full of sugar or artificial sweeteners, unhealthy oils, man-made chemical additives, flavors, and preservatives?  Is it really okay to eat donuts, pasta, deep fried foods, and get too little sleep, in moderation? Is there a moderate amount of hydrogenated oils, MSG, artificial sweeteners, or soda pop made with phosphoric acid and high fructose corn syrup that our bodies can metabolize and still remain healthy?

• Should we only drink a moderate amount of water? Or should we drink the right amount, the optimal amount? 
• Should we exercise moderately or optimally? 
• Should we eat the optimal amount of vegetables which provide the vitamins, minerals, trace elements, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and fiber that are essential for every cell in our bodies? 
• Or should we eat them in moderation, balancing those health-promoting foods with tortilla chips, soda pop, white flour and processed dairy, foods nonexistent when the genetic code for optimal health physiology was being formed?

If something you eat or drink doesn’t cause immediate toxicity but will ultimately undermine your health, is it okay to consume them over time, leading to disease? In other words, if science has shown beyond a shadow of doubt that certain lifestyle choices lead to a breakdown in health over time, is it okay to engage in those behaviors ‘in moderation’?

Seeking Pleasure and Avoiding Pain – Our Genetic Blueprint
As science has come to learn what the neurobiological mechanisms that drive us toward certain choices or behaviors, which are, in their simplest or most primitive form, the seeking of pleasure and the avoidance of pain, it is quite understandable why we would choose to satisfy cravings and desires. The problem lies with the choices available to us in today’s modern world.

During the time of our genetic molding approximately 40,000 years ago in the Paleolithic era, there weren’t food choices that carried the burden of toxicity and disease that exist today.  As early humans, we of course sought out pleasurable foods such as sweet berries, honey, fatty animals, and ripened fruit and vegetables that served to satisfy both our body’s physiologic needs for health and our pleasure drives.  Foods that could cause epidemic rates of diabetes, cancer, heart disease and obesity either didn’t exist, required tremendous amount of energy expenditure to acquire, or were seldom consumed.  For example, the choice between fresh water and foul, stagnant water was ‘no-brainer’; stagnant water didn’t taste good and made you sick.  Today though, we have Frappuccinos, Diet Coke, Monster Energy drinks and other unnatural processed foods made with chemical ingredients that taste great due to their ability to hyper-stimulate pleasure centers in the brain and lead to a myriad of health conditions including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity, senile dementia and osteoporosis – food choices that were nonexistent in the history of man until very recently.  We now have intensely sweetened foods and foods seasoned with a group of chemicals called neuroexcitotoxins such as MSG, that literally hijack the pleasure centers of the brain creating unnatural neuroadaptive responses leading to inappropriate lifestyle behavior choices driven by unnatural cravings.

The solution?  Whenever you are about to buy or eat any food, ask yourself ‘Was this food 20,000 years ago?’   If you can’t answer yes, then don’t eat it; chances are it’s what I like to call sick and sad food.

Live Excessively
Do all the things science has now shown to promote health, in excess!  Exercise, drink lots of pure water, eat lots of organic vegetables and fruit, raw nuts and seeds, grass-fed lean animals, and cold-water fish in excess (hint: you can’t do these things in excess; try drinking too much water – the body self-regulates naturally).  Don’t ‘moderate’ them, don’t be fooled into thinking it’s okay to ‘balance’ those health-promoting lifestyle choices with disease-producing behaviors done in moderation.  Just because they won’t kill you overnight, doesn’t mean they won’t kill you.

Pursuing health through mitigation or moderation is a false paradigm.

You can do it!

Yours in health, Dr. Paul