RECIPE: Thai Green Curry

McDougall Style Thai Green Curry

 

This one is straight from the McDougall's back pocket. John McDougall, MD, the author of The Starch Solution and his wife Mary cook up some fantastic high carb, low fat plant-based recipes. The McDougall diet has been extremely successful is preventing and reversing heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity. What's not to like!

 

I find most of their recipes quick and simple just like this one, of course all their cooking is oil-free, vegan and mostly rice and potato based.

 

Serves 3-4

 

Ingredients

 

100ml vegetable stock

1 onion, diced

1 red pepper, cubes

1 yellow pepper, cubed

1 green pepper, cubed

2 tbsp thai green curry paste (homemade or shop bought)

2 cups sweetheart cabbage, coarsely chopped

1 cup frozen broccoli florets

1 cup frozen cauliflower florets

150g sugar snap peas

2 tbsp soy sauce

4 cups cooked brown rice

4 small tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 tsp dried basil

200g coconut milk

 

1. Place stock in a pan with onion and peppers. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the paste.

 

2. Add cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas and soy sauce. Mix and cover, reduce heat to low and cook until vegetables are tender, 5-10 minutes.

 

3. Add cooked rice, tomatoes, dried basil and coconut milk. Cook for a further 3 minutes.

 

TIPS

- Spice it up! On reflection I would definitely add a green chilli next time for a bit more kick.

- In the McDougall's recipe they use rice/almond milk along with 1 tsp coconut extract. I believe this is to keep the fat content even lower.

- By all means use fresh broccoli and cauliflower. 



 





RECIPE: Big Breakfast Smoothie

Perfect way to start the day!

 

Today I had to pick something up from a friends house (hi Ryan) which is about 4.5 miles away from where I live. I decided to run there and back and I'd not done this kind of mileage in a day for a while so was pretty hungry when I got back home!

 

I got there in pretty good time and had about a hours chat with my friend Ryan (my only subscriber at the minute!) who's looking to increase the number of plant-based meals he consumes and try cut out the "crap" in his diet. He likes to make his own food and is a good cook, but knows I've not consumed animal products for around a year or so and was interested in some of the things I eat day to day. I mentioned pretty much every morning I have a smoothie or eat fruit up until midday.

 

When I got home from the run he text me to say, "Get a load of smoothie recipes up".

 

So Ryan, this one is for you!

 

Serves 1 (could be split into 2 servings)

 

Ingredients

 

500ml water

8 ripe bananas (these were small-medium) 

Handful or 2 of spinach

1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries

2 tbs hemp seeds (optional)

1. Put in the blender in that order and blend away!
 

TIPS
- Use kale instead of spinach
- Swap raspberries for your favourite berry. I like blackberries and strawberries.
- You don't need a fancy blender to make smoothies. I've used a hand-blender for about a year until I saved up and got a high-speed one.

 



Oil: Health Food Or Junk Food?

Oil is one of the first ingredients you see when looking at a recipe. Olive, sunflower, canola, coconut, sesame, peanut, walnut, the list is endless.

These days you will see heart healthy margarine spreads made with extra-virgin olive oil and even junk foods like crisps donning a little logo saying, "Made with high-oleic sunflower oil". It's correct, oil has become a 'health' food.

Claims are made that olive oil reduces the risk of heart disease, aids digestion and has anti-aging proporities. It reduces the 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) and boosts the 'good' cholesterol (HDL). Some suggest coconut oil helps weight loss and also boost metabolism.

What's the real deal though?

Well, popular to mainstream belief these oils aren't all they're cracked up to be, especially when trying to combat the biggest killer in America and the UK, heart disease.

The NHS states:

"Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the UK's biggest killer, causing around 82,000 deaths each year. About one in five men and one in eight women die from the disease".

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coronary-heart-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx

 

Watch these two videos to understand the facts about oils.

 

Caldwell Esselstyn Jr MD of Cleveland Clinic has shown heart disease can be reversed 100% of the time, using a plant-based diet. Olive oil -- and ANY oil -- increases heart disease, the same way butter does. Looks pretty healthy and lean for an 80 year doesn't he?! 

 

 

 Jeff Novick. OIL TO NUTS.

 

Now, I'm not completely against the consumption of oils. For me if you're going to consume oils I recommend not heating them as some burn at low temperatures and can turn into trans fat (not good!). If you fancy drizzling a small amount onto your salad every so often, feel free. Make sure it's a good quality cold-pressed oil as most of the shop bought ones are refined which filters out nutrients and flavour. Oils are most beneficial when used externally. For example, coconut oil is great for moisturising the hair and skin.

 

If you are trying to lose weight I'd would definately cut out oils. Every gram of fat (no matter what source it comes from) holds 9 calories. One tablespoon of olive oil contains 120 calories! Vice versa, a gram of carbohydrate only has 4 calories, less than half the calories in any fat.

 

How to cook without oil

 

* Use water or vegetable stock to saute or fry. Keep a glass of water on hand in case you need to add more.

 

* When roasting vegetables or potatoes in the oven I like to use lemon juice which adds great flavour and is fat-free.

 

For more oil-free cooking tips check out this site:

http://engine2diet.com/the-daily-beet/guest-post-cooking-without-oil-by-cathy-fisher

1907 New York Times Article Shows That Meat Causes Cancer. A Century Later, Many People Still Haven't Heard The News.

Dr Neal Barnard's Blog: 
http://www.pcrm.org/media/blog/dec2013/1907-emnew-york-timesem-article-shows-that-meat


"How does meat cause cancer? It could be the heterocyclic amines—carcinogens that form as meat is cooked. It could also be the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or the heme iron in meat, or perhaps its lack of fiber and paucity of antioxidants".

"Over the past century, meat eating in America has soared, as have cancer statistics. USDA figures show that meat eating rose from 123.9 pounds of meat per person per year in 1909 to 201.5 pounds in 2004".

RECIPE: Hearty Stew

A butternut squash & potato stew for those cold winter days

This stew is based on the 'Hearty Stew' from The China Study Cookbook by LeAnne Campbell, daughter of T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study. Sighted as the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted, the book provides impregnable evidence that a plant-based diet leads to optimal health with the power to halt or reverse many diseases. Enjoy!

Serves 4

Ingredients

950 ml vegetable stock (I use Marigold Swiss Vegetable Vegan Bouillon Power, Reduced Salt)
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 red pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 medium potato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Salsa*
1 tbsp. dried oregano
2 courgettes, chopped
1 400g can borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
1.5 cups frozen garden peas

*Salsa
1/2 200g jar jalapenos (I used Mexican Discovery Red Jalapenos)
1 tbsp. lemon or lime juice
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
400g can chopped tomatoes, not drained
Pinch of sea salt

• Add all ingredients to food processor or blender and mix.

1. Heat 75ml stock and soy sauce in a large pan. Add red and yellow peppers and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes.

2. Add remaining stock, butternut squash, potatoes, salsa and oregano. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until the squash is just tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Add courgettes, borlotti beans and peas. Cook for a further 10 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes and serve.

TIPS
-Substitute the garden peas for corn.
-Borlotti beans can be replaced with any other bean of choice.
-Use your favourite shop bought salsa if you don't want to make it yourself!

A Marathon A Day Keeps The Doctor Away: Running Raw

Janette Murray-Wakelin and Alan Murray running raw around Australia. (Telegraph, 2014)

Read article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10545857/Vegans-powered-by-raw-food-complete-year-of-daily-marathons.html

Now, I like to go for the occasional jog but these two plant-powered beauty's ran a marathon a day for a whole year, then managed one more on New Years Day!

That's a record breaking 366 consecutive days, from 4am to 4pm, and almost 10,000 miles. Best of all, they were fuelled by raw plant foods.

At the ripe ages of 64 and 68, Janette and Alan ate nothing but raw fruits and vegetables to power their way around Australia. They started their days with a 10 banana, grapefruit and date smoothie (sounds like a recipe idea!), and then ate even more bananas, green smoothies and fruit salads. No animal protein for recovery or cod liver oil to keep their joints loose, just raw fruits and vegetables. Radical stuff hey!

I first heard of these two crazy cats when watching one of durianriders youtube videos (see below). Harley (durianrider) joined Janette and Alan to complete a marathon in late November.

 

 

Inspirational stuff. Now where's my Nike's? 

 

 



RECIPE: Sweet Potato Curry

 

High carb, low fat plant-powered curry!

 

Serves 4

 
Ingredients

275ml vegetable stock (I use Marigold Swiss Vegetable Vegan Bouillon Power, Reduced Salt)
1 large carrot, diced
1 yellow pepper, cubed
1 red pepper, cubed
1 red chilli, diced (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. turmeric
2-3 sweet potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
500g carton organic tomato passata
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
Brown rice to serve
 
 
1. Heat 75ml stock in a large pan. Add the carrot, peppers and chilli and cook for 5 minutes until slightly softened, stirring occasionally.
 
2. Stir in onion powder, cayenne, coriander, cumin and turmeric. Cook for 1 minute.
 
3. Add the sweet potatoes, green beans, passata and remaining stock. Bring to a boil, cover and lower heat to medium-low. Cook for around 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Add chickpeas and cook for a further 5 minutes. Sea salt and black pepper to taste.
 
4. Serve over brown rice.